University of North Carolina Athletics
GoHeels Exclusive: Forever 49
April 26, 2019 | Baseball, Featured Writers
By Pat James, GoHeels.com
Not a day goes by when Brandon Martorano doesn't think about Zach Attianese, his former North Carolina baseball teammate and childhood friend who was tragically killed in a car accident last June.
He thinks about their time playing with and against each other during travel ball. He reflects on their time as freshman roommates at UNC. Mostly, though, he reminisces about the constant example Attianese set and how that continues motivating him to be the best person he can be.
Some days these thoughts run through Martorano's head more often than others. But around the time of the Fall World Series in October, they persisted even more than usual.
William Creech and his 7-year-old son, Aidan, didn't know that. The diehard Tar Heel baseball fans had read about Attianese's passing, though, and learned of the impact it had on Martorano. So, when Aidan and William came across a baseball card signed by Attianese as they browsed through the impressive card collection that Aidan had assembled over four years of attending Carolina games, William suggested they give it to Martorano. Aidan agreed.
Martorano had become familiar with the Creeches during his first two years in Chapel Hill and knew Aidan as the boy who always had cards for the players to sign. That's exactly what he thought he'd be doing when the Creeches called him over after one of the Fall World Series games. Instead, they handed him the card with his best friend's signature.
"That made me really emotional," Martorano said. "For me, I believe in signs, and I thought it was pretty neat that I was able to get that card."
From there, a relationship formed between Martorano and the Creeches. And it strengthened even more when Aidan and his family, from Greenville, N.C., needed someone to lean on a few months later.
When he's not watching sports, Aidan's likely playing them. He likes basketball, lacrosse and soccer. But baseball has always come first. Like Martorano, he plays catcher and wears No. 4. He often can be found in the yard, practicing what he's learned from the most recent how-to video he's watched on YouTube.
But in early January, William and his wife, Nicole, started sensing something was off.
Always energetic, Aidan was suddenly tired all the time. All he wanted to do was sleep, William said. And over time, he started running a fever that just wouldn't go away.
Initially, William said Aidan was diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease. Treatment for that didn't work, though. So it was determined that he had walking pneumonia. But when his symptoms didn't improve after a few days, he was admitted to the emergency department at the James and Connie Maynard Children's Hospital. He'd ultimately spend 56 days at the hospital.
Aidan ended up being treated for pneumonia caused by adenovirus infection. Due to its severity, he had to be put on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine, which pumps blood out of the body through specialized tubes and into a system that oxygenates and removes carbon dioxide from it before returning it to the body.
Aidan was on the ECMO machine for eight days, William said. He was in a medically-induced coma for two weeks.
"He was real close to leaving this place," William said, "he really was."
As Aidan started recovering, Carolina baseball provided a reprieve, not only for Aidan but also William. Thanks to the ESPN app, they watched games whenever possible. And every time Martorano appeared on the screen, Aidan made sure William noticed.
Throughout Aidan's hospital stay, William emailed Martorano and Mike Fox, updating them on Aidan's health. Despite some hesitations, he still attended the First Pitch Dinner, the first he ever went to without Aidan. He also came to part of the doubleheader against UMass Lowell on March 2. Aidan was adamant that William couldn't miss it; the first of four trading card giveaways was that day.
It was while William was at Boshamer Stadium that Martorano told him to be on the lookout for a video from the team. Fox emailed it to William a few days later, and Zack Gahagan, one of Aidan's favorite players, sent another. As special as those were, it was a personalized video from Martorano that had the most profound effect.
"I'm not going to lie, I cried like a little baby," William said. "It just meant so much that a young man like that could see my son a few times and reach out like that."
To Martorano, it was simply the right thing to do.
"I remember when I was a young kid and I looked up to people," he said. "So for me, at this point in my life, I just kind of want to be like that guy who I looked up to when I was young. If I could make him feel a little bit better while he was in the hospital, that means a lot to me."
Finally, on March 13, Aidan was discharged from the hospital. Almost two weeks later, he attended his first game of the season, the Tar Heels' 8-7 win over Duke on March 30.
With baseball cards in hand, Aidan and William arrived early and secured their autograph spot along the third-base line. Eventually, Martorano emerged from the dugout, and as soon as he did, Aidan started screaming his name. Upon seeing Aidan, Martorano rushed to the locker room. When he returned, he was wearing a T-shirt that he'd received from William. It reads "Aidan Strong."
"I lost it," William said. "That was very special for a 21-year-old kid to care about my son like that. That just shows the types of players who Coach Fox has. They've all been wonderful."
Still weak from his time in the hospital, Aidan couldn't stay for the entire Duke game. But William said he's gotten "a little bit better" in the month since then.
Every now and then, William said Aidan develops a fever. Whenever he does, William and Nicole, understandably concerned about his previous symptoms potentially resurfacing, rush Aidan back to the emergency department. He's able to run around outside occasionally. He gets tired quicker than he used to, though.
Still, he was able to throw out the first pitch at a recent Down East Wood Ducks game. And on Monday, he goes back to school. But before then, Aidan will return to Boshamer Stadium, where he'll serve as the bat boy for Carolina's game against Virginia on Saturday.
The bat boy experience is among the popular items sold during the First Pitch Dinner live auction. Before William left for this year's dinner, his father-in-law gave him his credit card and told him to win the experience for Aidan.
"He said, 'Don't take your arm down,'" William said. "And I didn't. My arm didn't come down. I saw Brandon at the end and I said, 'Just take care of him whenever we have it.'"
Of course, Martorano said he will. He'll do anything for Aidan.
Martorano still keeps his "Aidan Strong" T-shirt in his locker so he can wear it whenever Aidan is around. It also serves as a reminder of what Aidan has been through and how lucky Martorano is to play baseball. What happened to Aidan could just as easily happen to him, he said. The same can be said about what happened to Attianese.
Every morning, the first thing Martorano looks at when he wakes up is the tattoo on the inside of his left wrist. It says "Forever 49," a tribute to Attianese, who wore No. 49 growing up and was a left-handed pitcher. Martorano then looks over at his nightstand and sees the card that Aidan gifted him. He carries it with him every day.
It might not bring Attianese back. But it keeps his memory alive in Martorano's mind and makes him think about his friend's family every day.
"To have that little piece for myself, it just reminds me that every day I've got to keep working and follow my dreams the way that he did and he wanted to," Martorano said. "We shared a lot of dreams together, so for me, I think it's just a way for me to constantly humble myself and remind myself that baseball is finite.
"Baseball isn't going to be forever and I'm not always going to be great on the field. But I can always do what Zach did and always be a great person. It just reminds me every day that I've got to be more like him and do the things that he did because he would do the same."
