Hitting bottom
Zach Pickett wheels down the ramp of a donated custom van that is retrofitted to accommodate his disability.
Photo by Todd Shurtleff
He needed all that strength, physically and mentally.
The scene at the hospital was hectic, chaotic and a blur to Tod.
"It was a room just filled with doctors," he recalled. "Zach had 11 or 12 IVs in him. The medicine made him sick at first. There were steroids in his neck and spinal cord. It was not a pretty week. It was the longest week of our lives. Couldn't sleep. You don't know what to do in that spot. There's no manual to read. You just have to go through it."
Over the next three months, Zach and his parents stayed between the medical center, Shriners Hospital and the Sacramento Ronald McDonald House. Judy and Tod never went home.
"I think it may have been harder on them than me," said Zach, who endured hours upon hours of physical therapy.
Said Tod: "Frankly, I don't know how he kept such a great attitude. At his age, I don't think I could have. ... The kid definitely has heart."
Zach Pickett on his sixth day in the hospital.
Photo courtesy of the Pickett family
His parents prepared him well for the moment, Zach said. Judy not only endured the cancer, she is a national spokesperson for the cause. She's also raised cancer awareness through running, having completed 119 races in 38 states.
Tod got Zach involved with the Special Olympics six years previously.
That, combined with humbling experiences at the Shriners Hospital — seeing young burn victims and infants with leukemia, for instance — gave Zach much-needed perspective.
"I don't know if I was ever really angry," Zach said. "I remember wondering, 'Why did it have to happen?' But I also remember people in my condition telling me you can't always be angry. It's not going to change anything. Besides that, I knew other people had it worse than I did.
"At a certain point I knew I had hit bottom. Literally. I just had to come back up."
It helped to have a tremendously supportive community behind the Pickett family. The local Mountain Democrat newspaper regularly ran stories promoting countless fundraisers to help defray medical costs for the Picketts.
Contractors, unbeknownst to the family, built wheelchair ramps and remodeled their home. A custom van to aid in loading and unloading a wheelchair was also donated, one that Zach started driving last month.
"Amazing," Tod said. "We are indebted forever to the phenomenal people of our community."
Said Judy: "Blessed. Truly blessed."
Zach soaked it all in and rather than crumble, he paid back the people who loved and supported him by living a full life.
"I think he learned that tough times don't last, but tough people do," Judy said. "We can get through anything together as a family and an incredible community."
In this photo taken the day before he was paralyzed, Zach Pickett poses by the finished school sign that was his Eagle Scout project.
Photo courtesy of the Pickett family
