Beats odds of rare disease that left him without legs
The odds said Zachary Hitt would never have the opportunity to attend his high school graduation, let alone walk across the stage to accept his diploma.
But Zachary Hitt pays no mind to what the odds say. Never has.
Hitt suffers from caudal regression syndrome, which cost him his legs at a young age — they were both amputated before he turned 2. He was born missing his lower spine and his parents were told he wouldn’t make it home from the hospital. His father, Al, said the family stopped counting his surgeries once he turned 15; he had already undergone 50 of those procedures in his lifetime.
Yet there he was Friday night at the Pontchartrain Center for Hahnville High School’s graduation ceremony. Zachary’s name was called and he lifted himself with his arms and walked across the stage, as those who attended stood and gave him a thunderous applause.
A video of the moment was shared on social media last Saturday night. As of Tuesday afternoon, it had been already been viewed nearly 50,000 times. Zachary said the crowd reaction didn’t register until after the fact.
“I was nervous of course, but by the time I had gotten on stage all of my nerves were calmed,” Zachary said. “The reaction of the crowd never hit me until I was shown the videos my family had recorded of me walking across stage.”It was something he envisioned for himself years ago. Al noted that Zachary told his friends as a freshman that he planned on making the walk as a senior. The graduate admitted that vow was less than serious at first, but it quickly gained steam as the big day veered closer.
“When I first said I was going to walk across the stage I was just joking with my friends,” Zachary said. “As all that time went on it was still just the joke. But senior year got here and with graduation around the corner, the joke became the reality.
“It was mostly a ‘why not?’ to me more than anything, because honestly, is there any other way to receive your diploma?”
That he did so may have come to a something of surprise to his father, but at the same time, hardly a shock: Al has seen his son prove others wrong since the day he was born.“He’s constantly beat all of the odds,” Al said. “He won’t listen to you tell him what he can’t do. He’ll just do it differently, his way.”
While Al knew the graduation walk was coming ahead of time, the moment still gave him chills.
“It was an unbelievable night, to see him walk across the stage,” Al said. “That feeling was unreal.”
Clearly, the 19-year-old is a very tough-minded individual. In addition to the physical hardships he had to endure and adapt to over the years, he lost his mother, Annie, to cancer close to seven years ago.
He was forced to miss a considerable amount of class and study time due to surgical procedures, absences that spanned as long, his father said, as 109 days.
“He has learned to adapt in his environment and with the body he has,” Al said. “But he does have to go through so much more than the average person has to each day.”
“Though I’ve learned very early on to brush myself off after every procedure and act as if nothing had happened, keeping a positive attitude as well as a humorous outlook toward it all is key,” Zachary said.
Next, he plans to study film making at Delgado Community College. He may taste some on-screen success first. He has auditioned for a role in an AMC TV series that would see him portray Johnny Eck, a man who, like Zachary, was born with caudal regression syndrome. Eck lived a long life and became a famous illusionist, musician and builder and driver of race cars.
He read for the part across from two actors portraying other characters in the audition scene; Zachary learned all three roles prior to reading for it.
“Personally, I have been excited over the whole experience,” Zachary said. “Mostly because it’s my first insight into this industry. I’ve always told myself I was going to get into the film industry one way or another, and if this becomes my foot in the door then I’m going to try and pull every other opportunity I can out of it.
“Filmmaking has been a passion of mine since I was young. The whole storytelling aspect is what drew me into the whole idea; making me want to tell stories of my own.”
The driven young man could very well find himself telling on-screen stories for years to come. Even so, he couldn’t make his father any prouder of the story Zachary has been telling for years: his own.
“He has the heart of a freaking champion,” Al said.
Be the first to comment