Her holiday wish is to be pain-free

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers STRONG TO THE BUCKET— Calabasas High senior Haley Meadows drives the lane against Simi Valley. Meadows entered the week averaging a team-high 16.2 points per game. Having already conquered skin cancer when she was 10, Haley Meadows entered Calabasas High School four years ago intent on becoming a great basketball player for the Coyotes.

And then the pain began.

"I was just getting into high school, and I was working out every day," the 17-year-old said. "I was so set on making the varsity team as a freshman. It was going to be the greatest thing.

"But as I practiced, my legs would just start hurting. I'd be going so hard, and then I'd just fall."

Haley fell a lot, and she often felt fatigued and sore.

Her mother, Laura, and father, Keith, spent a year searching for answers.

"At first they thought she broke her back," Laura Meadows said. "And then they thought she broke her leg, like there were little bones broken or something."

Recalling the bout against juvenile melanoma on her back as a young girl, Haley said she basically shrugged off any ramifications—although a scar always served as a reminder.

This, however, was different because no one was telling Haley exactly what the problem was.

"I'd wake up in the morning thinking, 'Why am I sore?'" she said. "Every week I'd have to go for a different blood work. It would take me out of school sometimes.

"I'd go for blood work and then go straight to the games. It was really difficult doing both of those things."

It was at UCLA Medical Center, and later at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where Haley was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that causes widespread pain in muscles, tendons and ligaments.

Although the condition isn't life-threatening, there is no cure for fibromyalgia. It is more prevalent in women than men.

"As a mom, it was very difficult because we know what she went through the first time with the cancer, and then this was another blow," Meadows said.

"This is her love—basketball. We didn't know how it would affect her going forward."

Haley dramatically altered her diet to become more healthconscious, and put a greater emphasis on sleep. She's tried different medications but is now med free, according to her mom.

During the diagnosis, doctors advised Haley to take a threemonth break from basketball.

"She tried, but she couldn't," her mom said. "She kept on going, and there was nothing we could really do about it because she has to play. It's just who she is."

Haley, a guard, competed on the Coyotes' junior varsity squad during her first two years at CHS and was a standout on the varsity last season, averaging a team-high 15 points per game and being named secondteam AllMarmonte League.

Although the school and coaches were notified of her condition, Haley hasn't discussed it with her teammates throughout the years.

"I just found out today," said junior forward Ashley Oliver, speaking on Mon., Dec. 15.

"Recently she's been talking about how sore she is, so I finally caught on and was like, 'Okay, what's wrong? I'm not sore, why are you?' It must be something that's really starting to hurt her more."

Haley, who Calabasas firstyear head coach David Goosen describes as one of the toughest players he's ever been around in boys' or girls' hoops, refuses to use her condition as a crutch.

"I don't like the pity party; that's not who I am," Haley said.

"I don't like people feeling sorry for me if I have a bad game and telling me it's okay because of what I have. No. I had a bad game because I had a bad game. I don't want to have this to blame and be my excuse in life."

Rarely does Haley need to find an excuse for the way she played on a given night.

The senior has scored in double figures in 26 of 30 career varsity games, including the Coyotes' first six games this season.

With Goosen in charge and Haley igniting the offense, Calabasas entered Tuesday with an 82 overall record and had already recorded its first league victory since Jan. 26, 2007.

"Haley is a coach's dream," Goosen said. "Oftentimes, because someone is your best player, they'll take advantage of the situation and take the mindset that they don't need to try as hard as everyone else.

"With Haley, it's not like that. Even though she's one of our best players, if not our best player, she goes harder than anybody else all the time."

While her participation in basketball often carries a price tag of pain—she still falls on the court from time to time and recently missed three games with an ankle injury—Haley says it would hurt a lot more to have to sit and watch from the stands.

"When I get on the court, everything that happened throughout the day—I could have the worst day ever—I get out there and it's just basketball," she said.

"I just want to go out there and play. It gets my mind off everything, and it's something that I love to do."