Hileman's Faith Carries Him Through Tough Times
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Eighteen-year-old Kevin Hileman will compete in the track and field state finals in Indianapolis.
He is just one of 21 local athletes who will do so today and tomorrow. But odds are no other state finalist has traveled the arduous route Hileman has taken to get there.
Hileman, who graduates from Tippecanoe Valley Saturday, has cone dystrophy, a hereditary eye problem. He is legally blind. He has never driven a car and probably never will.
A couple of years ago his mother, Karen, was diagnosed with cancer. Her health stayed OK until last summer. She died Dec. 5. She turned 50 Dec. 4.
"To go through the problems he has - the disability plus losing his mother, a two-year ordeal - having to go through that whole process, he has all the rights to say, 'I want to be average,'" Tippecanoe Valley track and field coach Terry Screeton says. "And average would be successful for him. He perseveres and goes one step farther every time."
Try seven steps.
He is a gifted photographer.
He was a drum major in the band this year.
He plays the saxophone.
He took the building trades class and helped build a house.
If the school or his church needs sound equipment, he sets it up. He wants to study to work in the field of sound engineering.
He was one of Valley's best, if not the best, cross country runners the past few years.
He advanced to the track and field regional the three previous years. Now he is headed to the state finals for the first time to compete in the 800.
Hileman's eye problem was diagnosed at age 2. He has three other brothers - two of the three have cone dystrophy as well. Cone dystrophy skips generations, so his children would not get it but his grandchildren would. He wears special glasses that look like bifocals you see 58-year-old people wearing, not 18-year-olds.
"The cone and rods control the colors in the eyes, therefore I'm color blind," he says. "It's a problem with the retina. With the disease, it let's too much light into your eyes."
His right eye has 20/200 vision. He says his left is better but not by much. He sees things best when he holds them just inches away from his face.
What will happen in the future? His vision may stay the same. Then again, his vision may deteriorate until he is completely blind.
"There's a 50-50 chance it could stay the same or get worse," he says.
Hileman's cross country times suffered his senior year, but friends say this was because his heart was in Indianapolis with his mother, not at the cross country meet. Karen became sickest last fall, during cross country season. More than once Hileman competed in a meet then left for Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis to be with his mother.
"I tried to get down there every weekend I could," he says.
Now a day does not go by without him thinking about her.
"Out at building trades, I would work by myself a lot," he says. "You can't help but think of her."
She died in the hospital one day after her birthday, leaving behind Kevin, his three brothers, and his dad, Chuck.
Kevin credits Chuck for hooking him on photography. Chuck is an amateur photographer who shoots weddings and senior pictures.
Hileman has the eye disability, but he often sees better through a camera lens. If people who attended Valley basketball games or football games saw a young photographer, it was most likely Hileman. He likes to photograph sporting events, but he also likes still scenes. He plans to take photography classes in school.
"The thing I really like about photography is when you give someone a photo the feeling you get when they thank you for it because it really means something to them," he says.
Will he place at the state finals? Who knows? He ran the best 800 time of his life, 2:00.03, at last week's Kokomo Regional. He placed second there. He's shooting for 1:57.
"For him just to be at the state meet, considering all that has happened," Screeton says, "he could come in dead last and still be a huge success."
Screeton will never forget Karen's funeral. He watched all four boys stand up and sing a song in memory of their mother.
"They were all so strong," he said. "I knew it had to be their faith."
And his faith in God, Hileman says, helped him through these trials and tribulations he has faced even though he still is a teenager.
"It taught me more to depend on God," he says. "If I hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten through it."
You would think Hileman has earned the right to worry about himself. He refuses to.
One of Valley's cross country runners battled leg problems and got down on himself. Who else but Hileman went out of his way to enourage him.
"He picks other people up," Screeton says.
Screeton knows. He saw proof just Thursday.
"I was at (former Valley secretary) Kay Kindig's funeral this morning," he says. "Guess who else was there? Kevin was there. That says a lot to me about the type of person he is. He cares about others more than he does about himself. That's the kind of people you want to be around.
"It's amazing to me. He's risen above the circumstances. When I see a kid do that, it's something special."
1999 TRACK AND FIELD STATE FINALS
Today in Indianapolis at IUPUI's
Carroll Stadium
Times: 3 p.m., field events; 4:15, running trials; 6:15 p.m., running event finals
Several local boys have advanced to the boys track and field state finals. Listed are school, names, events, last week's regional placing, regional time/distance and state seed. Up to thirty-two boys compete in each individual event, while 27 teams compete in each relay event. Some boys advanced from the Kokomo Regional, while others advanced from the Fort Wayne Regional.
Manchester
David Bazzoni, pole vault, third, 13-0, No. 29
Rex Reimer, long jump, second, 21-5 3/4, No. 29
NorthWood
Matthew Traub, pole vault, eighth, 14-3, No. 12
Aaron Hoover, 3,200, third, 9:35.61, No. 12
Tippecanoe Valley
Kevin Hileman, 800, second, 2:00.06, No. 26
Warsaw
Justin Bellamy, high jump, first, 6-8, No. 3
Greg Seiss, 800, fourth, 1:56.22, No. 12
3,200 relay (Jon Dock, Greg Seiss, Juan Garcia, Justin Rice, Rob Peters), first, 7:58.65, No. 4 [[In-content Ad]]
Eighteen-year-old Kevin Hileman will compete in the track and field state finals in Indianapolis.
He is just one of 21 local athletes who will do so today and tomorrow. But odds are no other state finalist has traveled the arduous route Hileman has taken to get there.
Hileman, who graduates from Tippecanoe Valley Saturday, has cone dystrophy, a hereditary eye problem. He is legally blind. He has never driven a car and probably never will.
A couple of years ago his mother, Karen, was diagnosed with cancer. Her health stayed OK until last summer. She died Dec. 5. She turned 50 Dec. 4.
"To go through the problems he has - the disability plus losing his mother, a two-year ordeal - having to go through that whole process, he has all the rights to say, 'I want to be average,'" Tippecanoe Valley track and field coach Terry Screeton says. "And average would be successful for him. He perseveres and goes one step farther every time."
Try seven steps.
He is a gifted photographer.
He was a drum major in the band this year.
He plays the saxophone.
He took the building trades class and helped build a house.
If the school or his church needs sound equipment, he sets it up. He wants to study to work in the field of sound engineering.
He was one of Valley's best, if not the best, cross country runners the past few years.
He advanced to the track and field regional the three previous years. Now he is headed to the state finals for the first time to compete in the 800.
Hileman's eye problem was diagnosed at age 2. He has three other brothers - two of the three have cone dystrophy as well. Cone dystrophy skips generations, so his children would not get it but his grandchildren would. He wears special glasses that look like bifocals you see 58-year-old people wearing, not 18-year-olds.
"The cone and rods control the colors in the eyes, therefore I'm color blind," he says. "It's a problem with the retina. With the disease, it let's too much light into your eyes."
His right eye has 20/200 vision. He says his left is better but not by much. He sees things best when he holds them just inches away from his face.
What will happen in the future? His vision may stay the same. Then again, his vision may deteriorate until he is completely blind.
"There's a 50-50 chance it could stay the same or get worse," he says.
Hileman's cross country times suffered his senior year, but friends say this was because his heart was in Indianapolis with his mother, not at the cross country meet. Karen became sickest last fall, during cross country season. More than once Hileman competed in a meet then left for Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis to be with his mother.
"I tried to get down there every weekend I could," he says.
Now a day does not go by without him thinking about her.
"Out at building trades, I would work by myself a lot," he says. "You can't help but think of her."
She died in the hospital one day after her birthday, leaving behind Kevin, his three brothers, and his dad, Chuck.
Kevin credits Chuck for hooking him on photography. Chuck is an amateur photographer who shoots weddings and senior pictures.
Hileman has the eye disability, but he often sees better through a camera lens. If people who attended Valley basketball games or football games saw a young photographer, it was most likely Hileman. He likes to photograph sporting events, but he also likes still scenes. He plans to take photography classes in school.
"The thing I really like about photography is when you give someone a photo the feeling you get when they thank you for it because it really means something to them," he says.
Will he place at the state finals? Who knows? He ran the best 800 time of his life, 2:00.03, at last week's Kokomo Regional. He placed second there. He's shooting for 1:57.
"For him just to be at the state meet, considering all that has happened," Screeton says, "he could come in dead last and still be a huge success."
Screeton will never forget Karen's funeral. He watched all four boys stand up and sing a song in memory of their mother.
"They were all so strong," he said. "I knew it had to be their faith."
And his faith in God, Hileman says, helped him through these trials and tribulations he has faced even though he still is a teenager.
"It taught me more to depend on God," he says. "If I hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten through it."
You would think Hileman has earned the right to worry about himself. He refuses to.
One of Valley's cross country runners battled leg problems and got down on himself. Who else but Hileman went out of his way to enourage him.
"He picks other people up," Screeton says.
Screeton knows. He saw proof just Thursday.
"I was at (former Valley secretary) Kay Kindig's funeral this morning," he says. "Guess who else was there? Kevin was there. That says a lot to me about the type of person he is. He cares about others more than he does about himself. That's the kind of people you want to be around.
"It's amazing to me. He's risen above the circumstances. When I see a kid do that, it's something special."
1999 TRACK AND FIELD STATE FINALS
Today in Indianapolis at IUPUI's
Carroll Stadium
Times: 3 p.m., field events; 4:15, running trials; 6:15 p.m., running event finals
Several local boys have advanced to the boys track and field state finals. Listed are school, names, events, last week's regional placing, regional time/distance and state seed. Up to thirty-two boys compete in each individual event, while 27 teams compete in each relay event. Some boys advanced from the Kokomo Regional, while others advanced from the Fort Wayne Regional.
Manchester
David Bazzoni, pole vault, third, 13-0, No. 29
Rex Reimer, long jump, second, 21-5 3/4, No. 29
NorthWood
Matthew Traub, pole vault, eighth, 14-3, No. 12
Aaron Hoover, 3,200, third, 9:35.61, No. 12
Tippecanoe Valley
Kevin Hileman, 800, second, 2:00.06, No. 26
Warsaw
Justin Bellamy, high jump, first, 6-8, No. 3
Greg Seiss, 800, fourth, 1:56.22, No. 12
3,200 relay (Jon Dock, Greg Seiss, Juan Garcia, Justin Rice, Rob Peters), first, 7:58.65, No. 4 [[In-content Ad]]