Luis Leaos Story Part I
Luis de Carvalho Leao, or Luis Leao as most people in New England have come to know him, is originally from Santa Catarina, Brazil. He first came to the United States to play basketball in the summer of 2007 when he traveled with a junior national team from his home country to play in an AAU tournament sponsored by Adidas.
That August he returned to the U.S. in hopes of attending school and playing basketball. His journey began in California where he planned on staying with a local Brazilian family. When those plans fells through, Leao found himself in the middle of August with no place to go to school.
It was at that point that Leao made plans to attend the Winchendon School. But with the beginning of the school year three weeks away and Leao unable to return home to Brazil he had nowhere to stay. With assistance from some friends back home, Leao made arrangements to stay with another Brazilian family whom he had never met, this time located in Newton, Massachusetts, only a short distance from the Winchendon School.
Three weeks later Leao was at the Winchendon School for his first day of class, but there was only one problem…he couldn’t speak any English.
In what would be the first of many examples as to the power of his work ethic and intellect, Leao had developed a basic grasp of the language five weeks into the school year. By the end of the first quarter he had progressed so much that he had earned a perfect 4.0.
But while Leao was adjusting quickly in the classroom, the basketball court was another matter.
“The level of play was initially too fast for him,” Winchendon head coach Mike Byrnes conceded. “But as time went on he became more and more confident and his effort and intensity began to grow on me.”
It wasn’t long before Leao had worked his way into the rotation and eventually the starting line-up.
“I’ve been harder on him than maybe any other kid,” Byrnes said. “But you can’t put a value on what he brings to the locker room, to practice, and to the team. He has all the intangibles and he was a calming influence on the floor for our team last year.”
Everything was finally clicking for Leao…he had found a place to go to school and play basketball, learned another language in only a few short months, raised the level of his game on the court, and earned the respect of his coach and teammates with his incredible work ethic.
But just when it seemed that the tough part was finally past him, Luis Leao faced a challenge that even he wasn’t ready for.
It began in a game against the South Kent School. The Cardinal’s explosive guard and current University of Washington freshman Isaiah Thomas was driving to the basket when Leao rotated over to cut him off and draw a charge.
The hustle play got a big cheer from the Winchendon bench as it was just the latest example of Leao’s ability to help his team by doing the “little things”. The play was quickly forgotten, as Leao got back up and finished the game.
But that night back in his Winchendon dorm room, Leao suddenly became seriously ill to the point where he couldn’t get himself out of bed. Winchendon head coach Mike Byrnes was sitting at his dinner table when he got the call from his assistant Ben Rosenfeld telling him the news. Byrnes instructed Rosenfeld to get Leao to the hospital right away.
In the emergency room Leao went through several tests, all of which came back negative. When the doctors couldn’t find the source of the pain they prescribed pain killers and an anti-inflammatory medication and then sent him back to school.
That night, back in his dorm room, the pain only got worse. It became so intense that a group of his teammates had to come into his room, pick him up, and carry him to the bathroom. Leao would return to the emergency room, this time in an ambulance.
After another round of testing, the doctors’ only hypothesis was that Luis had cancer in his blood. But because his health insurance policy only covered treatments in his home country of Brazil they couldn’t confirm their theory with furthering tests or begin any type of treatment.
With his life literally flashing before his eyes and no good options available to him, Luis Leao faced insurmountable odds…but he wasn’t about to give in.
Stay tuned tomorrow to hear the rest of his story.
Isaiah Thomas
Luis Leao