STROBEL: Zach rolls with it

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Wish Zachary Rayment a happy birthday, everybody. He’s 15 on Wednesday, as evidenced by his voice, which has dropped an octave since the last time I wrote about him.

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Cerebral palsy doesn’t make puberty any easier. At least Zach isn’t spending his birthday (and triplet brothers Aidan’s and Aaron’s) in hospital.

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You may remember Zach from past Sun Christmas Fund campaigns, including 2021’s when he walked unaided for the first time.

This has been an up-and-down year for Zach.

In September, he started high school, and loves it. “A whole new world,” he says. When I called him the other day, he was making out Christmas cards for his teachers. I hope they don’t die of shock.

Already, Zach has scored 94% in first-term science and dazzled ‘em with his knowledge of all 118 elements in the periodic table, from actinium to zirconium. “I’ve been waiting for this moment since Grade 6,” he tells me.

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Regular readers may remember Zach’s first independent step two years ago. Well, he’s up to four or five steps at a time, and travels between classes using just a walker, a big deal for him. “My wheelchair is collecting dust in the attic,” he says, though he still needs it at times.

Next week, he’s in for more botox injections to leg muscles coiled tight by cerebral palsy.

Physio is three days a week, mostly with trainer Eric Savva, a fixture at Variety Village, that iconic sports centre in Scarborough catering to kids with disabilities.

Zach started 2023 recovering from a broken tailbone suffered when he ran afoul of a small zipline at an Ajax park. In fact, he’s been in and out of Sick Kids hospital all year, mostly for a saliva gland that keeps getting infected, a quirky calling card of CP. It got so bad the first week of school, he had an open wound on his face. Not a great introduction to Grade 9.

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So, his goal of being able to navigate in and round his house without aid is still a way off.

“Two steps forward, one step back,” he says. “Literally.”

His dad, Simon, says, “There’s something about Zachary, the more things happen to him, the more he just goes, ‘Okay, bring it on. What’s next?’”

The kid even took on the school board, which had insisted on a key for his school’s elevator — which meant Zach couldn’t open it, given his limited dexterity.

Says Zach: “You build an elevator to say you’re an accessible school, but really you don’t want people to use the elevator, so there’s a key…”

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So, he wrote a letter and his schoolmates and teachers joined in, and the board relented. A small victory in a larger war.

At his class Christmas party last week, the restaurant’s ramp was blocked with a giant planter pot.

To cap off the year, Zach has been diagnosed with scoliosis, a curving of the spine.

“It adds a little excitement,” says Zach, drily. “It was getting a bit dull around here.”

So, more time to be spent with medicos.

“I’m just rolling with the punches,” Zach says, “I mean, I haven’t been in hospital for a couple of weeks… so, who knows?”

Well, happy birthday, Zachary. You’ve earned it.

Northchannelpress.com
northchannelmike@gmail.com

HOW TO HELP

Variety Village, says Zach Rayment, “is really a community. An amazing community.” You can help keep it so, by going to varietyontario.ca/the-sun-christmas-fund/, and joining the following recent donors:

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Kazuo Nishimura, Oakville, $75

Marilyn Wall, Scarborough, $100

Georgina Dufty, Scarborough, $50

Edward Shaughnessy, Mississauga, $100

Barry and Wendy Clemmens, Hamilton, $100

Dennis Szabo, Mississauga, $100

William Erickson, Toronto, $50

Susette Khabbaz, Scarborough, $30

Carol Sevigny, Scarborough, $50

Steve Simmons, Thornhill, $100

Donald Rowley, Milton, $25

Bruce and Kathy Reynolds, Mississauga, $50

Ruth Clarkson, Hamilton, $100

Norma Dickey, Scarborough, $50

Mavis Pyper, Toronto, $50

John Hoffman, Toronto, $200

Jacquelyn Betts, Mississauga, $25

John Schuermann, Mississauga, $100

Elizabeth Creighton, Toronto, $200

Joe Gabovic, Brampton, $30

Lorrie Shannon, Burlington, $100

Janice Andrews, Markham, $100

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Joe D’Alimonte, Vaughan, $50

John van Herpt, Kingston, $100

Patti Armstrong, Oshawa, $100

Melissa McAllister, Scarborough, $30

Maryse Baillargeon, Newmarket, $50

Carol-Sue and Gerry O’Hanley, Toronto, $200

Anonymous, $200

Cindy Hewson, Oshawa, $50

R and D Crowe, Colborne, $20

Sandra and Norman Hunt, Oshawa, $75

Leslie Palkovits, Thornhill, $100

Glenn Russell, Toronto, $25

Stu Garner, Whitby, $50

Steve and Rita Warlow, Whitby, $100

Anonymous, $25.

David Masters, Toronto, $500

Inge Christie, Toronto, $1,000

Sandra Montgomery, Pickering, $875

Christine Campbell, Mississauga, $50

Sana Qureshi, Short Hills, $50

Doug and Karen Peacocke, Pickering, $50

Violet Faust, Toronto, $100

Answer Noble, Toronto, $75

Judy Pelligra, Scarborough, $50

Kulwant Shergill, Woodbridge, $100

Anonymous, $25

Cynthia McLeod, Toronto, $100

Michael Higgs, Brampton, $1,000

Tommy Leblanc-Beaudoin, Toronto, $200

Alexander Gass, Toronto, $300

Josh Wannamaker, Pefferlaw, $50

Michelle Roberts, Toronto, $200, in honour of Mom and Dad.

Jim and Maryann Miller, Toronto, $100

Anonymous, $100

Jessica Forsyth, Scarborough, $75

Anonymous, $75

John Mitchell, Etobicoke, $50

Total $8,085

TOTAL TO DATE: $123,990

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