CINCINNATI — Max Meyer remembers having a basketball in his hands since birth.
“His first dream was to play in the NBA,” Max's mother Kristi Sherwin said.
At age 7, everything changed.
“I felt terrible everyday, I was not sure I was going to be alive after this,” Meyer said.
Meyer’s only dream was a future.
“I was diagnosed with Aplastic anemia, which is a rare form of leukemia,” Meyer said.
"The majority of the kids that he was on the unit with did not survive,” Sherwin said.
An underdog against life.
“We were pretty open about the severity of his situation at the time… he told me, ‘Mom, I just want to get on the school bus and go to school,'” Sherwin said.
Max leaned on his passion to persevere.
“I loved watching Xavier basketball on TV when I was in the hospital,” Meyer said.
Sparking a new dream, becoming a part of the Xavier basketball program. A dream that motivated Max to win. To beat cancer. But like any major win, Max needed an assist.
“(My sister) knows now that she saved my life,” Meyer said.
Max needed a bone marrow transplant and his sister Elle Meyer was a perfect match. At only 17-months-old, Elle saved her brother’s life.
“To me, (it was) all him. He fought so hard, that is what allowed him to survive. I don’t think about it as me, although, scientifically, it was,” Elle said.
A successful transplant gave Max a second chance at life. Fast forward 13 years.
“He is living his dream right now, just being a part of that team,” Sherwin said,
From watching his favorite team in a hospital bed, now a team manager.
“Being a manager is not a super desirable job, it’s a lot of the hard dirty work,” Max said.
He’s the right-hand man for Xavier’s star big man Jack Nunge.
“He’s talked to me about film," Nunge said. "About things he sees when I play. He rebounds for me every game day. We kind of chat about the game. His IQ is for sure there. He knows what’s going on."
“I think a lot of it stems from of who I have become as a result of being sick,” Max said.
“I keep it within myself because I want to be known as the person I am now,” Max said.
The person Max is now, is one that his hero looks up to.
“He is just a big role model for me. I look up to him all the time. He has been through so much and has made it so far,” Elle said.
“He is doing what he has always wanted to do see he was a 7-year-old boy watching the NCAA tournament, cheering for Xavier," Sherwin said.
As for what Max is fighting for next: “I want to be a coach one day,” Max said.
That 7-year-old boy with a dream, now a 20-year-old man with a goal.
