Liam Doxsee pumps his legs as fast as he can next to his best friends. They’re sitting on the colorful swings of a large backyard playset while Liam’s dogs run by in the wet grass. The 9-year-old’s siblings — Harper Reese, 6; Gracelyn Reese, 5; and Samuel Reese, 4 — watch the action as Liam attempts to reach the height of his friends. He can’t quite swing as high, but he’s giving it all he’s got.
Liam, who lives in Coal Valley, Illinois, was diagnosed with severe combined immunodeficiency — a rare genetic disorder that affects the immune system — when he was just five days old. About one in 58,000 children are born with SCID each year in the U.S.
However, as his Instagram profile biography and mother Mary Matheson notes often: “SCID won’t stop this kid.”
Liam lives by this mantra.
At two months old, Liam received a bone marrow transplant that saved his life at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Now, he visits the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital a few times every month, takes a variety of medications each morning, afternoon, and night, and gets his nutrients from a gastrostomy tube three times a day.
In a life full of many ups and downs, Liam finds support through family members, friends, and the families three dogs, specifically Liam’s pug Lulu.
“[Lulu] always knows when to [comfort me],” Liam said.
Matheson said their family works hard to figure out what’s best for Liam, deciding who goes with him when he’s admitted into the hospital and who stays back to take the other kids to school.
“How we support him is just giving him a little bit of grace and time,” Matheson said. “…With him and all he’s been through, he has a lot of trauma and anxiety.”
Liam also leans on Iowa baseball for friendships and support, a relatively new bond he has formed in his young life.
As the fourth-grader walked down the hallway of Bicentennial Elementary School in Coal Valley, Illinois, in mid-September, one of the teachers asked a few students what their favorite NFL team was.
The teacher asked, “What’s yours, Liam?”
Liam answered quietly, “The Hawks.”
A little over a year ago, Liam joined the Iowa baseball team as its Kid Captain, with help from the organization Team IMPACT. This two-year contract gave Liam the chance to deepen his connections with his favorite team and sport.
Between attending a few baseball practices and most games and joining in on pregame huddles, Matheson said Liam treats this opportunity as a job, enjoying every second of it. Liam sat on a bench in the dugout, rolling around a baseball wet from the rain. After the athletes warmed up, they made their way through the dugout, high-fiving and eagerly exchanging “hellos” with Liam.
“These are real friendships he’s made with the team, which is really special for him,” Matheson said.
One of these close friendships includes Iowa baseball infielder Ben Wilmes, or “Benny boo boo bear,” as Liam would call him, similar to Liam’s nickname for his dad, which is “Benny.” Wilmes and Liam met during the first baseball practice Liam attended.
Wilmes said when he first met Liam, the boy was a bit shy walking into the hitting facility. Now, Liam serves a key role in bringing out the laughter and youth of the baseball players.
“Liam is a very loving child and very happy and really doesn’t take anything for granted,” Wilmes said. “…We see his happiness side because whenever we’re together, we take away the aspect of his life in the hospital and kind of help him completely forget about that in the moment.”
Wilmes said Liam stands in between him and infielder Michael Seegers during the National Anthem before almost every game. The athletes taught Liam the respectful way to hold his oversized baseball cap over his heart.
“Every time he’s not there, I’m kind of sad a little bit because I can always look back and say that my little buddy was standing next to me the whole time,” Wilmes said.
PHOTOS:UIHC’s impact on Liam’s health care journey
Along with being a kid captain for Iowa baseball, Liam has been given numerous other opportunities, including watching the Savannah Bananas — the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball — entertain a crowd in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and traveling to the Mall of America with his family.
Matheson said Liam always asks, “Why me?” in response to the opportunities he receives.
“I try to remind him that he gets these [opportunities] for a reason and there’s a purpose behind it and that he deserves it,” Matheson said.
Not every aspect of Liam’s life involves new experiences. Liam said living with SCID is a challenge, especially having to go to doctor appointments often as a kid with a sensitive body.
“Especially the needles,” Liam said. “See, the longer needles, everyone says they don’t hurt a lot. But when I feel them, it’s like I’m getting thrown into a firepit. It hurts bad.”
After a long day at the hospital, Liam and his mom usually walk over to a cafe at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital and order him a vanilla steamer.
Along with the challenges Liam encounters, Matheson said the family deals with financial hardships that come with multiple doctor appointments and frequent travel from their home in Coal Valley to Iowa City, which takes over an hour.
Matheson said during the difficult days she faces, she leans back on her husband Ben Reese for support. The duo met in Geneseo, Illinois, when Reese was working at a grocery store. After plenty of interactions, the two became a couple.
Almost a decade of marriage later, as Matheson walks out to the family’s driveway in her scrubs, leaving for work as a registered nurse in Davenport, Reese pulls into the driveway after his day at Lowe’s as a flooring specialist. The duo exchange a quick hug and a quiet goodbye while the streetlights illuminate their still-running cars.
“The confidence comes from just being together for so long and being through so much,” Matheson said. “And no matter what we go through, we do it for each other and the kids.”
Despite occasional overwhelming hardships, Matheson said she’s grateful for the family’s switch to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, as it improved Liam’s health and introduced him to new experiences in Iowa.
“The move did a lot for Liam,” Matheson said, “but then it also kind of partnered us with…everybody at Iowa too.”
