Why this Stone Ridge Christian volleyball player values every moment on the court.

Stone Ridge Christian High volleyball coach Ken Shaw describes Brooke Wareham as a junior with a senior mentality. She plays with a sense of urgency, knowing her time on the court isn’t guaranteed.

“She just has a little more passion than others,” Shaw said. “She loves to be out there.”

Given what Wareham, 16, has gone through in the past year, it’s easy to understand why there’s an extra spring in her step when she takes the court on Tuesday night when SRC plays for the Northern California Regional Division VI championship against Forest Lake Christian at 7 p.m.

The Knights setter and defensive specialist was sidelined from playing any sports from November of last year until this past May after suffering from seizures.

It started when Wareham had a seizure after a volleyball playoff game against Valley Christian on Nov. 2, 2017. She tried to come back and play basketball, but had another seizure during a game and another one when she tried to play softball.

Doctors advised her to take a break from sports until the seizures stopped.

“Really I stopped playing sports for seven months from November to May,” Wareham said. “I had seven seizures at school and quite a few out of school. Not playing sports was difficult to go through because I love being part of a team. I enjoy winning and sports are one of my passions. It was super difficult watching all my friends play when I could not be out there.”

During those seven months, there were many doctors appointments as they tried to figure the cause of the seizures. Every time Wareham had a seizure she had to call her neurologist. If a seizure lasted over 5 minutes, and there were four of those, she had to go to the emergency room to get checked out.

“I checked out fine every time, which was good, and I never hurt myself,” Wareham said.

Wareham made multiple trips to Valley Childrens Hospital in Madera. Some of those trips by ambulance. She made a trip to Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto. She spent a lot of time at Mercy Medical Center in Merced.

She had blood tests done. She was hooked up to machines in hopes that they could capture an episode while she was in the hospital, but that never happened.

Wareham was told to reduce her level of stress as much as possible and she loaded up on vitamins and supplements.

“I wasn’t allowed to go out much,” Wareham said. “They compared it to an earthquake because you don’t know when it’s going to hit. So I stopped a lot of my social events. I had to stay home and stay close to my family and parents, who knew how to deal with the seizures. I also didn’t want to put people in the position to have to watch something so scary.”

When the seizures happened at school, Shaw was there to help out.

“When talking to her I tried to keep it the same as an ankle or knee injury that she had to recover from,” Shaw said. “We talked about it as something that would go away.”

On April 30, Wareham had her last seizure. She’s been seizure free for seven months.

She’s worked herself back in shape, which meant gaining some of the weight she lost. Wareham has been one of the main contributors toward the Knights (30-6) success this year, which included a Central California Athletic Alliance championship and the program’s first Sac-Joaquin Section championship.

Wareham leads the team with 73 aces, she’s second on the team with 422 assists and she’s recorded 202 digs.

“She loves being out there,” Shaw said. “Sophia (Vander Dussen) rotates in for her in the front row and Sophia paid her the biggest compliment. She said Brooke is her biggest cheerleader when Sophia goes in.”

“I try to be as positive as I can and bring as much energy as I can when I’m on the court,” Wareham added. “I try to get my sets in the right spots so my teammates can have the glory and flourish.”

Many of her teammates and classmates sent her cards when she was in the hospital. She said during that time she grew closer to some of her friends, including fellow setter Sydney Shaw, who is the coach’s daughter. Because Sydney’s dad was with her during many of the seizures, Sydney was there too.

“Our friendship has grown because of it,” Wareham said.

Doctors were never able to give the Wareham’s a definitive diagnosis why she suffered from the seizures, but Wareham feels she’s back to 100 percent.

“It’s definitely made me realize tomorrow is never promised so I go out and give it my all today while I have the chance,” Wareham added. “It makes me value all the time I have with my teammates This season has meant so much to me, playing with all my teammates who were all so supportive of me. I’m grateful for my school and everyone there who helped me during my time.”

This story was originally published November 12, 2018 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Why this Stone Ridge Christian volleyball player values every moment on the court.."