Softball has become a type of therapy for 18-year-old Addison Babbs. The freshman from Nacogdoches County is finishing her first semester at Angelina College and earned a spot on the Lady Roadrunners softball team. Until recently, very few of her teammates knew about an inoperable tumor deep inside the right half of her brain.

Competitive sports is one of the ways Addison has kept each day as ‘normal’ as possible since the tumor was discovered after a car wreck in 2015. From that point forward, she put her life on a new path to find her faith.

“I wanted have an understanding because I really thought it was over for me. So I know that if something was going to happen to me, I wanted to go to heaven.”

Even though doctors have told her she may only live to age 25, Addison doesn’t seem concerned with timelines.

“God’s there for me. And he’s going to get me through it. So why do I have to worry about what’s going to happen today or tomorrow? And it just kind of gives me the little push that not many people who have a brain tumor and all these health problems get to do what I get to do every single day.”

Despite pain, health struggles, visual and spatial issues, and learning challenges, Addison sees the blessings in many situations. She says she’s come a long way toward accepting her situation in life.

“I would cry myself to sleep at night. I mean, asking God, talking to God, like in my bed, on my knees, like ‘Why me, like why a 10-year-old?”

Even when she doesn’t have the answer, her mom Angel has been there to keep her grounded in wisdom.

“We don’t realize what God is doing often right then and there in the moment,” Angel said. “But later we do realize that he has his hands in everything. And the hard times and the difficult times, and the doctors visits and hospital stays. Sometimes that’s to a much greater picture that’s waiting for you down the road.”

As softball drills train this teenage athlete for the season ahead, Angelina College head softball coach Brette Kohring says Addison already has the most important skills for life.

“Like her relationship with Christ and how it’s changed her as a person,” Kohring said. “But she’s gone through insurmountable, unthinkable things. And she’s handled them with grace and works her tail off for it.”

Addison’s family says softball has exposed her to people of faith from around the world, who serve as a support structure.

Her love of the sport is a reflection of her love of life. It’s also her inspiration to keep fighting.

“At a young age, somebody told me that I would never be good at it (softball). And so every single day, I just have that little memory in my mind, that I’m here. I’m playing collegiate softball. And so, that’s definitely a motivation for me.”

Addison says she rarely talks about her brain tumor because she doesn’t want it to define her identity, referring to herself as a complex person who doesn’t want sympathy.

“I want to be viewed as somebody who is so much more than that. A follower of Christ, a softball player, you know, stuff like that.”

She’s accomplished so much in her short life, having been voted Homecoming Queen at Chireno High School, prom queen, ‘Most Likely to Succeed,’ and was named to National Honor Society, among countless honors.

The views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of KLTV/KTRE-TV or Gray Television. They are solely the opinion of the author. All content © Copyright 2024 Lane Luckie