DaytonDailyNews.com

VANDALIA — Jordan Hadder's mother sees the family's ordeal this way:

"There are no words to describe what we went through," Kristin Gartrell said. "One minute your world's great, then it goes to the bottom."

It was the spring of 2007 and Jordan, then a sophomore basketball player at Vandalia Butler High School, had been promoted to varsity when, shortly thereafter, a medical mystery arose.

"Jordan came up to me during a game and was incoherent, almost crying," Butler coach Steve Pelfrey recalled. "I said, 'What's wrong?'

"He says, 'I'm seeing double.' "

It was first thought to be a concussion. Hadder, a bouncy 5-foot-8 point guard, had a habit of being on the receiving end of contact, even in practice. His head recently had struck the floor.

When symptoms persisted after a week's rest, further testing revealed a large brain tumor that required two surgeries and many rounds of radiation.

Fast forward to the present and Jordan, with 14 titanium screws holding his skull together, wearing padded boxing headgear, is back on the court and playing like none of this ever happened.

After sitting out all last season, Jordan has started every game, averaging about 10 points for the Aviators, who begin tournament play Tuesday, Feb. 24, against Springfield. He's among the Greater Western Ohio Conference leaders in free-throw shooting (82 percent), 3-pointers made and steals, and is attracting interest from Division III programs such as Mount Union and Otterbein.

"He's been acting like the same guy as before the tumor, just a spunky high school kid," said Jenny Hadder, Jordan's stepmother. "Until you see him on the court with that helmet, you would never know anything was ever wrong."

A 'dumbbell' tumor

Connie Korber, the Butler athletic department secretary, likes to joke that she's been working at the school "for 103 years." It's actually more like 20, but this kind of comeback story just doesn't come through the door every day.

"I think it's amazing," Korber said. "It was all pretty scary, but Jordan's a real scrapper."

He needed to be because, at the time of diagnosis (by Englewood-based Dr. Michael Barrow, who draws raves from the family), "everybody was devastated," said Scott Hadder, Jordan's dad. "It was like 500 pounds of brick dropped on your head."

A brain scan had revealed two masses forming a "dumbbell" tumor, named for its shape. One was behind Jordan's left eye, explaining the vision problem. The other had lodged near his brain stem, embedded in nerves.

Doctors said the tumor, while benign, may have been growing for 5-8 years.

"They wanted to get him into surgery as soon as possible," Scott said. "We started interviewing surgeons."

"At first, they said it had a pretty high percentage of being cancerous," Jordan said. "Once they said it wasn't, that eased some of the pressure."

The road led to Dr. Philip V. Theodosopoulos at the Mayfield Clinic in Cincinnati, and right before his 16th birthday, Jordan was on an operating table for 14 hours.

"They told us it would take six to eight hours," Scott said. "Four hours in, they hadn't even gotten to the brain. They were still cutting the skull. We were like, 'Oh my God, what's wrong?' "

It went well, ultimately, and in six weeks, following radiation treatments, Jordan seemed fully recovered. Then, in August, right before the school year, his left eye started watering severely. Tests showed part of the tumor was growing again.

It meant more surgery, this time a 12-hour procedure followed by 27 radiation treatments and the realization for Jordan that he would not play basketball as a junior.

"After the first time, I was just glad it was over," Jordan said. "When I found out I had to do it a second time, I was like, 'I can't believe this.' "

Teammates were floored, too, especially Matt Birdsall, with whom Jordan has shared a backcourt since fourth grade.

"The second time scared me the most," Birdsall said. "I didn't want him to have to go through it again."

Complex procedures

Noted for his tumor expertise, Theodosopoulos, known as "Dr. Theo," said both procedures were "as complex as it gets."

"It was a large tumor next to the most important part of the brain," he said. "As a young person, to have a big tumor like that is rare. These are not run-of-the-mill things."

Sight loss had been feared, but aside from some temporary blurriness and tunnel vision in his left eye, none resulted. Jordan lost some feeling on the left side of his face and says he can't taste anything on the left side of his tongue.

Not that he's complaining, mind you:

"They said it could have been a lot worse. The whole left side of my face could have been paralyzed.

"I see how lucky I am and stuff. I think this has (changed me) a little bit. I hear about other people going through medical problems and now I understand how hard it is."

It's changed the family, too.

"Ever since my surgery, my dad has been going to church a lot more," said Jordan, who splits time between his parents' homes. "We hardly ever went to church. Now we'll go once or twice a month. Before, it was once a year."

"We're definitely believers now," Scott Hadder confirmed. "God was looking after Jordan."

Back in the game

Jordan all along had intended to resume playing basketball. Doctors finally said he could play AAU ball last spring and summer as long as he wore the headgear, the kind worn by amateur boxers.

"It's perfectly safe," Theodosopoulos said. "From day one, he bounced right back. I can't tell you there was even one time during the course of either surgery that he even had a complaint. Have to say, I wish all patients were like Jordan."

Scott Hadder said the headgear scared off a few AAU teams, but Jordan eventually hooked up with Ohio Valley Force, based in Centerville. He quickly became a starter and led the team in scoring, which won him a spot at a 5-Star Nike camp in Tennessee.

"He went down there with his helmet and won MVP," Scott said, proudly. "That's when he got it in his head that he would bust his butt to play Division III college ball."

And that's what's been happening. Regular-season wins have been scarce for Butler (5-14, 2-5 GWOC North through Friday), but Jordan — appropriately enough considering his headgear — comes out swinging every night.

"You could tell he was tentative at first," Scott said. "He was holding back. I kept saying drive to the hole, shoot, do this or that. The first five or six games, he wasn't the player we all knew. Then he started kicking in, doing anything it takes to win."

In college, doctors say the headgear can give way to a protective headband often worn by soccer players. That college ball is even possible continues to stun those closest to Jordan.

"It's just amazing how this kid has bounced back from two brain surgeries," his dad said. "It's insane how resilient he was."

Contact this reporter at (937) 231-7203 or smcclelland@DaytonDailyNews.com.