I want to dedicate this Blog to a good friend and role model to many, Saulo Morris.
The sound of a different (now distant) drummer
by E.J. Montini - Dec. 4, 2008 12:00 AMThe Arizona Republic
When I found out that Saulo Morris died, I called Eric Byrnes, the Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder.
"John (Saulo's father) sent me a text," Byrnes told me. "I started crying. The tears just came. It's not right, you know? It's not fair. And it's really frustrating." Saulo was so close to making it.
He had endured a lot, never losing his optimism or his sense of humor, never asking for a better break than anyone else with a life-threatening illness, always believing that he could use what was happening to him to improve the lives of others. Then, just last month, he finally got some good news. A bone-marrow donor was found. A transplant might eradicate the leukemia that had appeared two years ago, when he was 16.
All that he had to do was to get through one last round of chemotherapy. But he couldn't.
There was an infection. Then another. And at 2:18 p.m. Tuesday, Saulo's family posted the following notice on the online journal (www.caringbridge. org/visit/saulomorris) that they'd been keeping for his friends and supporters:
"Saulo has passed on to a better life on this 2nd day of December 2008."
Saulo was a high-school baseball player. He played the bass drum in the marching band. He was an honor student. Byrnes became aware of him over a year ago, about the same time that I did.
One of Saulo's teachers at Thunderbird High School told me that a student of hers had donated the $6,750 that was raised in his name by the Make-a-Wish Foundation to Doctors Without Borders. He wanted to help victims of the war in Sudan.
When Byrnes found out about Saulo's generosity, he invited the teenager to be a guest on his FSN Arizona television show.
"That's how it started," Byrnes said, "but it became a friendship. He got to be like a little brother. The ups and downs were hard, but he always stayed positive. Just a couple of months ago, he had a full head of hair and was looking healthy. When I heard that they found a match for him, it was like justice had been served. If anybody deserved to live a long life, it was Saulo. Really. He is the type of person who makes sense out of this cynical world."
Just last month, Saulo's family and friends held a bone-marrow donor drive at his high school.
"He told me that he didn't think it would help him but that he felt really good knowing that somebody out there who was sick would find a match," Byrnes said.
"He's a much better person than I could ever hope to be. People have told me that I've had a tough year, being injured and such. That's nothing. Nothing. Saulo was living through the harshest reality that there is and totally dealing with it. Smiling. Honestly, I want to be like him. I want to live my life like him. He's such a unique person. He's only a kid but he also is my role model."
He didn't just march to the beat of a different drummer; he was that drummer.
The first time I wrote about Saulo, he was too sick to talk. When he got better, he called to say, "Thanks for all those nice things you wrote about me. But it was too much."
"That's him," Byrnes said. "I honestly believe that a spirit like that will live on forever. People will tell their kids about him. I know that I will."
Saulo told me that meeting someone like Byrnes and having the support of his family, his friends and so many others made him feel "really, really lucky." He wished that everyone could experience something like that, adding, "Without the leukemia, of course."
I said at the time that I hoped my own son might someday grow into a person like him. And even more, that someday I might grow into a person like him.
Reach Montini at 602-444-8978 or ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com Saulo was wise beyond his years and always showed strength in all that he did and said. He new when his time on this Earth was soon coming to an end and he came to accept that. These were his last words:
My Journey
by Saulo Morris
Well, I’m going to start with my freshman year. My freshman year was great, I was in the marching band, on the football team, in the winter I wrestled and in the spring I played baseball. I felt like I made it, high school was going to be a blast. Then my sophomore year came along and I started out just as good as my freshman year and everything was working out for me. I thought I was going to have another great year. But, it didn’t work out how I thought it would. I noticed that toward the end of my sophomore year my mentation began to change when I would work out. Then I was diagnosed with leukemia, and I didn’t really have a junior year. So now I’m going to make the most of my senior year and compare to the last two years and everything I’ve been through it should be a breeze.
My biggest hobby is my music. My life basically revolves around my music. I’m in the marching band here at Thunderbird, but don’t worry I’m not a horn player. I’m on the drum line, so no worries. I’m also in a band with three other guys. The name of our band is Sideways ∞. We thought it was kind of clever seeing how the 8 turned sideways is the infinity sign. We did our first headline show at the Phix. It went really well and it was a charity concert. So it was for a really good cause. We also recorded our first album so we’re all really stoked. It’s going to be titled “To Infinity and Beyond.” I think my biggest strengths come from my music, problem solving, my creativity, and positive outlook on life.
“I’ve been burning in water and drowning in fire trying to prove you wrong” -- author unknown. I really like that quote a lot. I wouldn’t say that the quote is a moral blueprint of my life, but it does have an influence on my life and the way I deal with situations. When I hear someone say, “Saulo, you can’t do that ...”, especially after all I’ve been through in the last year and a half, I do everything I possibly can to show that person that I’m perfectly capable of doing anything, and I want to prove them wrong.
I guess the one thing I would ask you to remember me by is not the tough times that I’ve been through, but remember all the good times. Remember Team Saulo and continue to help everyone around you. Make a difference in this world. Please remember me and don’t mourn for me, but celebrate me. Celebrate everything I did and please don’t forget me.
He lived an incredible life in his short 18 years, more than some people can show for their whole life. I am so grateful for the chance to have met him and be a small part of his life. He has touched so many lives, more than he will ever know.
