He has undergone 23 heart procedures. But that doesnt stop Old Colony freshman Brady Weglowski from playing the game he loves. – SouthCoastToday.com

MARION -- Early on, the Weglowskis learned how to read the doctors wardrobe.

As he would approach down a hallway toward the waiting room -- in what they couldnt help but recognize from every hospital scene from every TV show and movie ever made -- he would either be wearing scrubs or a suit.

If he comes up here in scrubs, that means hes not going home tonight, Marc Weglowski says. Hes going to stay here and watch something. If he comes out in his street clothes, hes going home and he feels comfortable.

The first time this played out for the Weglowskis was at 10:20 at night on Aug. 29, 2005, after their 2-month-old son, Brady, had just undergone his first open-heart surgery.

The doctor was wearing his scrubs.

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Its one of those marvelous sunny-yet-cool fall afternoons at Acushnet River Valley Golf Course as Brady raises his blue rangefinder to his brow, lining up his tee shot on the sixth hole.

The orange pants he is notorious for wearing around Reservation Golf Club are gone, replaced with khakis and a black Old Colony shirt. But theres a slight nod to his favorite player Rickie Fowlers penchant for gaudiness in Bradys orange-highlighted shoes.

The slender-framed freshman is coming off a birdie on the fourth hole and a par on the fifth. Hell finish the round with a six-over 42, showing off cleanly placed second shots and a measured approach on the greens.

Hes great off the tee box, says his coach, Kathy Peterson. He approaches every shot differently and he takes it seriously. If he has a bad hole, hes able to recover, which you dont see sometimes in young players. He gives himself a chance in every match.

Weglowski proved that just about two weeks into his high school career. While playing as the Cougars No. 3 golfer in a match against Norfolk Aggie back in September, he finished as the low medalist with a nine-hole 41.

He approaches his golf shots really well, Peterson says. Hes always looking one shot ahead. Hes really good with his club selection and what he should be hitting. A bad day of golf for him is probably a good day for most people.

On this sunny Tuesday, Brady walks off the ninth green comparing scorecards with fellow Cougars freshman Luke Butler. As they head down the path toward the clubhouse, theres only one small hint that Brady isnt just your typical high school freshman: the motorized push cart holding his bag.

But even that is a point of contention.

He doesnt want to use his pushcart, Peterson admits. He was against that.

A few hours later, sitting on an overstuffed couch in his family living room in Mattapoisett, Brady is asked about his pushcart.

Coach makes me, he says with a sheepish grin. Im like, Coach, Im fine.

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Brady was just two days old when a pediatrician at St. Lukes hospital noticed a heart murmur and sent him for an electrocardiogram.

Doctors quickly discovered Brady had been born without a pulmonary valve, a condition known as pulmonary atresia. He was also diagnosed with tetralogy of fallot, which involves four abnormalities of the heart that result in insufficient oxygen reaching the bloodstream.

He was transported to Boston Childrens Hospital, where he spent the next week. He necessitated open heart surgery to insert an artificial valve, but it was determined he needed to put on more weight first, so he was sent home for two months.

On Aug. 29, he underwent his first open heart surgery. He went into cardiac arrest and spent three days on life support.

My husband and I watched our baby's life end as the doctors and nurses worked on trying to save Brady, Kelly wrote online. After three of the longest days of our lives, Brady fought his way back.

It was extremely difficult. Very difficult, she says now, sitting in her living room with a baseball game playing in the background. But he championed through it.

He pulled through like a champ, Marc echoes from across the room.

Thirteen days after his surgery, Brady was back home. But as his heart grew, the valve wouldnt. And the tetralogy of fallot meant he needed other procedures, including numerous cardiac catheterizations.

You almost go into this fog, Kelly says. Ive gotten friendly with a lot of other moms with kids who were born with congenital heart defects and its the same thing. You go into this zone.

In his first two years of life, Brady had 21 hospitalizations. He had three open heart surgeries by the age of 3.

I remember carrying him into the operating room I dont know how many times, Marc says. I would carry him in there, walking into this brand-spanking new operating room.

Theres this little operating table, and you have to put him on it and hes holding your finger and you have to walk out of the room.

I got outside and theres a nurse and I hit the deck. You just break down uncontrollably.

*****

As the family discussed Bradys diagnosis with his doctors, they asked if the family was athletic. Marc had grown up playing sports at Durfee High and as an adult enjoyed golf, despite his 20 handicap.

They said be careful of high cardio sports, Marc says. Because if they get good, they might not be able to do it later and theyll be disappointed. So I went with baseball and golf.

Brady first started swinging a club at age 3. He played his first round at age 6.

One day, Brady was hitting some balls at Meadowbrook Driving Range in Acushnet.

There was a pro there practicing and he stood behind Brady, Kelly recalls. He said to me, Dont ever let anyone mess with his swing.

He has a beautiful swing, Peterson confirms.

When he was 11, Brady decided to quit baseball to focus on golf. In 2016, he won three events on the PGA New England Junior Tour and finished fifth at the Tour Championship. He won two more times in 2017 and took sixth at the Tour Championship, then handed in three second-place finishes during an abbreviated 2018 season.

He could always really swing it, Marc says. A lot of kids have to learn how to swing, but some kids pick it up as a natural swing. He had that.

Peterson, who works part time at Reservation, where Brady is a member (he also holds a membership at Bay Club, but he first learned to play at Little Harbor), noticed him as the little kid with the orange pants.

I knew he was thinking of coming to Old Colony and I spoke to his parents, she says. I was excited when he decided to come. I didnt know anything about his background. I just knew he had played golf since a young age and he took it seriously. I was excited to work with him. Hes always working on his game.

*****

If theres an official Golf Bucket List, Brady is in pole position for his age.

He plays four rounds in the golfers paradise of Myrtle Beach every year. He played legendary Pebble Beach days after his 12th birthday, recording a par on the famously petite and picturesque 7th hole and a bogey on the camera-friendly 18th.

But were just getting started.

Through Make-A-Wish, he was able to walk 18 holes with his idol, Fowler, at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

At the end he went and brought me in the clubhouse and I got to meet a bunch of different pros, he says, before listing off names including Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth. It was really cool.

But all that pales in comparison to his experience at TPC Norton during the Dell Technology Championship Pro-Am. Kelly had a connection with someone who was playing in a group with Tiger Woods and invited the family up to meet him. They expected a quick photo op, maybe an autograph, and then theyd be on their way.

But Tiger had other plans.

He spent 18 holes walking side-by-side shooting the breeze with Tiger for four or five hours, Marc recalls.

That was crazy, Brady says with a big grin. We talked the whole time. We talked about golf, school, sports. He gave me one tip with putting: Speed.

At the end of the round, Brady got to hit a tee shot using Tigers driver.

I actually hit it pretty well, he admits. There were a bunch of people around and everyone was screaming. Tiger was right behind me. It was insane.

His mom couldnt help but think: You dont even grasp what youre doing right now.

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Since the age of 3, Brady has been reasonably healthy. While he has still had to go in for occasional cardiac catheterizations -- 16 of them in all, plus seven heart surgeries, three of which were open heart -- including once earlier this fall, hes mostly lived complication-free for the past dozen years.

Hes not sickly, Marc says. Hes almost never sick. Hes not on oxygen. Hes riding his bike and skiing on the weekends in the winter and swimming in the pool in the summer.

Every once in a while I get chest pains, but its not bad, Brady says. Its not anything Im ever worried about. The only thing is running. I cant run for very long.

Bradys run of 12 years without an open heart surgery is about to come to an end, as well. On Dec. 11 hell undergo what is expected to be his final valve replacement surgery. It will be the first one he remembers.

When I was 3 I remember walking into a room (in the hospital) and getting a graham cracker, but thats it, he says.

His thoughts on his upcoming surgery?

Get it over with, I guess, he says.

The reason Brady has to undergo a fourth open-heart surgery is because the synthetic valve he had inserted at age 3 doesnt grow as the heart does. But Kelly is trying to change that.

When Brady was a child, she was talking with one of his surgeons, Dr. John Mayer, about how many surgeries he would have to endure throughout his life. Dr. Mayer told her about his research at Harvard Medical School on developing a tissue-engineered valve that would grow with the child. But funding was tight.

Kelly and Marc had recently attended the annual Champions for Children fundraiser and she was emboldened to attempt a miniature version of it in New Bedford at the Whaling Museum. She called together 20 or so friends for a meeting over wine in her home and nine years later she had raised $1 million through the Healing Little Hearts Gala. In 2012, Kelly was named the Mattapoisett Woman of the Year by the Standard-Times.

It took on a life of its own, she says.

The event ended in 2016, but Kelly is bringing it back on March 7, 2020, after learning that they are close to clinical trials.

Thats huge, she says. Were doing it to give the research the push it needs.

*****

One of Bradys best rounds this year, a 78, got him an invite to the National Invitational at Pinehurst in North Carolina, which means hes postponing a possible baseball comeback in the spring in order to practice for the 7,000-yard course. Lately, hes been focused on improving his driving accuracy.

While hes more focused on his next three seasons at Old Colony, Brady has put some thought toward pursuing the game beyond high school.

If I can, Ill play in college, he says. Division I would be a stretch, but I think (I could play) Division II if I keep practicing and playing.

He has been deciding between business and health tracks at Old Colony and already has eyes on following in his dads footsteps as a manufacturing representative selling industrial equipment to chemical plants and oil refineries, the type of job where deals often get made on the golf course.

My goal for him was to make the high school team, Marc says, so mission accomplished.

The real mission accomplished will come Dec. 12, when he should be recovering from his 24th heart procedure.

For Brady, thats just par for the course.

Follow Brendan Kurie on Twitter @BrendanKurieSCT

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He has undergone 23 heart procedures. But that doesnt stop Old Colony freshman Brady Weglowski from playing the game he loves. - SouthCoastToday.com