As the Edgewood College baseball team swings into another season, one Eagle in particular is swinging for the fences on and off the field.
"I have a reason for why that make sense for me to put my time and effort into this," said junior outfielder Marc Ostrowski.
The story for 20-year-old? begins with his child hood friend growing up outside of Chicago.
"Tim and I went to pre-school together and we have been friends a long time though school. Tim has the most positive outlook on field of any person I know," said Ostrowski.
Several years ago, Tim's dad died of Huntington's disease- a fatal, genetic brain disorder that leads to cognitive and physical decline.? Tim's older brother has the disease and Tim has a 50 percent chance of getting it as well.
"It's very under the radar and a lot of people just think, 'Oh Lou Gehrig's Disease,' and it is similar in the way it impacts the brain buts its different,"Ostrowski explained.
The marketing major decided to do something about it. With the help of friends in colleges across the country, they founded Camp Earth to raise money and awareness for Huntington's disease.
"Our slogan -- the whole big thing is finding a cure through adventure," said Ostrowski.
Camp Earth raised $10,000 in the summer of 2011. Some members even biked across the United States to raise money.
This year with over 20 members from seven schools, they hope to raise over $100,000.
"At my age you feel bulletproof, and if I weren't here tomorrow would I be happy with what I did up to this point?" Ostrowski reflected.
The Edgewood baseball family has embraced Ostrowski's mission, helping with fundraising leading up to their home opener at the end of March.
"We talked about baseball being a game of failure and well that is life, you get knocked down and you get back up or you choose to stay down and this fits right in. This is them taking that and saying I get knocked down and I can help him back up and we can keep going and maybe I will hit a double out of this, " said Edgewood college baseball head coach Al Brisack.
?"If you ever are down in the dumps,? you think how positive he (my friend Tim) is and it's a good friend to have, " said Ostrowski.
Proving that good friendships are worth fighting for.?
The Eagles' home opener is March 29th at Stampfl field in Verona at 3p.m. If you would like to learn more or donate you can go to Camp Earth's website.
http://www.mycampearth.com/
http://www.facebook.com/campearth?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/Camp_Earth
http://campearth.tumblr.com/
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/campearth/canada
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