Tough inning: Warranwood’s Brooke Kennedy with a bat given to her by major league player Peter Moylan.
BROOKE Kennedy has grown up with baseball in her blood.
Ever since she could wear a glove, the Warranwood girl would play catch with her brothers Mitchell and Jon, both state and national players, and her uncle Phil Dale, who coaches the Melbourne Aces.
But at the age of nine things began to take a turn for the worse.
"It sounds weird but we woke up one day and she wasn't standing straight," Brooke's mother Sue said. "From then on she became worse and worse."
Brooke, who is now 14, was initially thought to have cerebral palsy but was eventually diagnosed with an extremely rare form of dystonia that only a handful of Australians have.
The disorder has escalated to the point where her hands and feet are pointed severely inward, and she experiences 'storm' episodes, where her limbs become locked in extremely uncomfortable positions.
Mrs Kennedy says that although these moments scare her daughter, she never gets down on herself.
"She is just an extremely resilient kid and amazes her doctors. She never lets it get her down, no matter what the disorder throws at her.
"As a mum I really do admire her. She just says to me 'Mum, I have a crazy brain'."
Brooke's condition has deteriorated in the past year, and she has been hospitalised three times with life-threatening dystonic storms.
For Brooke, this has prevented her from doing her favourite thing — playing baseball.
She now requires surgery that aims to allow easier body movement by disrupting the faulty messages her brain is sending to her muscles.
The surgery requires using a $50,000 frame.
To help pay for it, the baseball community, in particular Jon Deeble (Australia's national baseball coach) and her uncle Phil have organised donations from Victorian clubs, and baseball memorabilia from the US.
Deeble, who has known Brooke since she was a child, has urged all to help out.
"I saw Brooke three weeks ago on the Gold Coast," he said. "We can make a difference to her life by getting this frame built."
The frame will then also benefit the handful of Australian children who require the surgery.
"To me it (the fund-raising) is not just about Brooke," Mrs Kennedy said. "I really want to help the Royal Children's Hospital, who have been incredible. I don't know where we'd be without them."
Anyone looking to donate can visit brookestarsdream.com.