Jordan Hunt is not taking anything for granted these days.

That is because he nearly lost everything last year.

Hunt, a senior, is a member of the Brandywine tennis team that is competing this weekend at the Division 4 state finals in Holland.

He was enjoying a successful season last year for the Bobcats when, following a match at Battle Creek Pennfield, everything changed.

As the year went along, Brandywine coach David Sidenbender noticed that Hunt was losing a lot of weight. When he was unable to finish the match, both knew something wasn’t right.

Hunt woke up for school the following the day and felt ill, so he went to the hospital. It was there where he was diagnosed with Addison’s disease.

“First of all, it was a shock,” Sidenbender said. “It was a hot summer and a hot beginning of the year, so we thought it had something to do with that. But he was getting really fatigued and when he could not finish the Pennfield match he got checked out. They told me that if they had not gotten to him when they did he could have died. It was that critical.”

Addison’s is a disorder that occurs when the adrenal glands do not produce enough hormones.

Hunt said he did not know what to think when he got the news.

“I had to get used to everything,” he said. “All I knew was I was tired and really had no energy. Then I got really sick, but I thought I had the flu or something. I went to the hospital and that’s when I found out.”

Hunt said the doctor explained everything to him.

“It was hard to get a grip on,” he said. “I didn’t think I was going to play again. But she told me I would be okay after a while. I had to get my levels back up.”

Hunt has to take hydrocortisone for the rest of his life and carry an EpiPen. He has to take extra hydrocortisone on match days.”

He is also supposed to keep his stress level down, which he admits can be tough during athletic competition.

Playing a winning team and being successful at No. 3 doubles along with teammate Tyler Mott has helped keep the stress down. Hunt and Mott are 21-5 heading into today’s state finals.

“I just wanted to go out and have fun and see how the year goes,” Hunt said of setting goals. “I really felt like we could win regionals at three doubles.”

That’s exactly what he and Mott did as they helped the Bobcats finish second at the regionals and qualify for state.

Sidenbender was pleased that things went well for his senior.

“This year he has kept his weight up and it really has not been an issue other than he has to carry an EpiPen in case he has a major injury,” Sidenbender said. “You have to jab him with it and then get him to the hospital. There have been no issues and he has been playing great this year.”

Sidenbender and Hunt are both hoping that they can wrap up the season in style at the state finals.

“We are really looking forward to state,” he said. “Our only loses are to Traverse City St. Francis and Paw Paw, plus we tied with Kalamazoo Hackett and Kalamazoo Christian, so I feel we could make some noise there with decent draws.

“Considering the competition and us being the smallest public school in the state tourney, I feel we have already overachieved, but our goal is to try and crack the Top 10.”

Here are the Bobcats’ first round pairings:

 

Singles

1. Chance Smith (16-11) vs. Austin Keones (NorthPointe Christian); 2. Tanner Bourdon (12-14) vs. Tyler Boes (Kalamazoo Christian); 3. Austin Balos (16-11) receives bye; 4. Alec DeJonge (12-14) vs. Connor Boyd (Whitehall)

 

Doubles

1. Matt Vaughn-Coles Series (11-14) vs. Henry Hitt-Connor Fors (Jackson Lumen Christi); 2. Mark Conrad-Caleb Cole (16-9) receives bye; 3. Tyler Mott-Jordan Hunt (21-5) vs. Alex VanKooten-Devin Veldhouse (GR South Christian); 4. Jon Gamble-Chandler Plew (19-3) receives bye