Southside Fights For Diabetes Baseball Tourney Kicks Off Friday-Sunday In Garfield Ridge

OAK LAWN, IL—When their 11-year-old son, Max, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2023, Ernie and Jenny Predoza were devastated.

“Our lives changed forever,” Ernie Predoza told Patch. “Hearing that your child will have to live with a lifelong disease is something no parent is ever prepared for. Type 1 diabetes never takes a day off. Every single day, Max has to monitor his blood sugar, count carbohydrates, and make decisions that most kids his age never have to think about.”

The Oak Lawn teen refuses to let Type 1 define him or his life. Max, 13, who will enter Brother Rice High School this fall, will be playing in the Southside Fights For Diabetes baseball tournament from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 24. Games start at 10 a.m. Saturday, July 25, and Sunday, July 26. Championship games will be played Sunday starting at 4 p.m.

“I had played in the South Side diabetes tournament before, but it was when I wasn’t a diabetic,” Max said, . “My parents talked to me about the organization and what they’re trying to do with finding a cure.”

Forty teams, drawing 9U through 16U players from across the Chicago region, will be competing at Hale Park, 6258 W 62nd St. in Chicago’s Garfield Ridge neighborhood. Proceeds from the volunteer-driven baseball tourney, founded by parents of children with Type 1.

Cheri Murray’s son, Patrick, a healthy, athletic identical twin who had spent his childhood on the baseball field with his brother, Joey, was nine when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes after suddenly losing 15 pounds in a single weekend.

“He looked at us from his hospital bed and asked one simple question: ‘What can I do to help cure diabetes?’” Murray said.

Gazing out the window at Advocate Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn, Patrick's twin brother Joey said, “‘Let’s have a baseball tournament,’” Murray recalled.

Ryan Adermann, president of Clear Ridge Little League, has donated the fields at Hale Park. Aside from paying the umpires and buying balls, proceeds raised from goodwill donations and raffles will be donated to the Chicago Diabetes Project.

“We’ll have split-the-pot. We have a grill, Yeti cooler, Cubs and Sox tickets,” Murray said. “We’ll have a gift card hat. If you have gift cards lying around the house, bring them to toss into the hat. People can buy raffle tickets to win the whole hat.”

Jill Dine, executive director of the Chicago Diabetes Project, said a handful of players will be playing with insulin pumps and glucose monitors. Dine’s son, Clayton, now 17, was 2 years old when he was diagnosed with Type 1.

“The technology has gotten far better than it was 50 years ago,” Dine said. “Ninety percent or more [of Type 1 diabetics] wear a continuous glucose monitor.”

Led by Dr. Jose Oberholzer, the Chicago Diabetes Project is a global collaboration that is doing groundbreaking research toward finding a cure for Type 1 diabetes that afflicts millions of children and adults worldwide. The CDP is working to functionally cure diabetes by transplanting insulin-producing islet cells into diabetic patients, which would reduce or eliminate the need for multiple exogenous insulin injections daily and provide better control of blood glucose levels.

“A lot is going on in the diabetes research world,” Dine said. “Dr. Oberholzer’s goal is to develop a transplanted islet without having to take immunosuppressant drugs.”

Young Max Predoza, who plays full-time travel baseball and hopes to play baseball for Brother Rice as well, has recruited a team of friends—the Roosters—to play in the Southside Fights Baseball Tournament this weekend.

“I asked my friends I play with now and other boys I’ve played with in the past,” Max said. “My dad also connected with two other boys who are type 1, and they will be playing with us too.”

For the past two years, Max has grown accustomed to ensuring that his devices are always charged, that he has enough insulin and snacks with him in case his blood sugar goes low—more l than most other kids his age.

“I have to do this every day,” Max said. “It is hard because it’s not just my glucose monitor but my pump. I have to be careful where I attach them because I don’t want them to fall off when I slide.”

It’s not usual for parents with recently diagnosed Type 1 children to approach Murray to share their stories.

“A grandmother came up to our table. She, her daughter, and her granddaughter were all Type 1 diabetics,” Murray said. “When her daughter was a baby, she used to have to take her daughter's diaper and wring the urine out to test her glucose. It shows how far we’ve come. Glucose monitors have been the greatest invention in diabetic care.”

If you're looking for something to do this weekend, come out to Hale Park, 6258 W 62nd St., Chicago, and watch some good baseball. If you’ve been recently diagnosed or if you’re the parent of a recently diagnosed child with Type 1 connect with other parents who are on the same journey. Don’t forget to buy some raffle tickets.