NBA veteran Max Strus returns to Stagg to recognize comeback of Oak Forest athlete
While giving a speech Thursday to end his fourth youth basketball camp at his alma mater, Stagg High School in Palos Hills, the NBA sharpshooter thanked his parents, John and Debra, and joked they were the reason he turned out 'perfect.'
But when it came to thanking his 'role models,' his older sister, Maggie Sommer, and older brother, Marty Strus, his voice cracked, and he took a few seconds to compose himself.
That show of emotion from the Cleveland Cavaliers guard was just the warmup of an even bigger outburst of emotions from the Castillo family.
Oak Forest High School sophomore Paityn Castillo won the inaugural Gary Strong Award from the Max Strus Family Foundation for her fight with Guillain-Barré syndrome, which she suffered in October right after the volleyball season.
The foundation, created in January, named the award after Gary Wimmer, the father of foundation official Jake Wimmer. Gary had a four-year battle with cancer before he died in August.
Castillo faced paralysis and couldn't breathe on her own, so she needed a ventilator. She spent 98 days in a hospital and was told she might not walk again or get feeling back in her feet.
Now, not only is she walking, she is learning to drive, participated at Oak Forest's volleyball camp, tried out and made the Lions South 16 club team and is jump serving.
'I have a new perspective on things,' Castillo said. 'I don't take things for granted and I appreciate the little things in life.'
Strus said Castillo is the type of person the foundation wants to help.
'We want to find ways to help different communities, whether that's home around the South Side of Chicago, in Miami where I lived for three years or Cleveland now,' he said. 'These are places near and dear to my heart.'
Castillo's story was shared in a five-minute video shown in the Stagg main gym in front of hundreds of campers and their parents. It showed some of the therapy she had to go through.
Her father, Reggie, mother, Sandy, and sister, Kamryn, were on hand for the award and to receive a surprise $10,000 check from the foundation.
There was plenty of emotion, especially with Reggie, who was crying when he addressed the crowd, and said he wasn't ashamed to be crying.
'I guarantee there weren't many dry eyes today,' Reggie said after the ceremony.
Reggie said he was also touched because, between 2003 and 2023, he was an athletic trainer at Stagg and knows the Strus and Wimmer families well.
Paityn started to walk in February and, given the severity of what she went through, her family was stunned with her progress.said
'It's been crazy,' Kamryn . 'It's hard to believe.'
'It's a miracle — it really is,' Reggie said.
Sandy echoed that and said the family has ridden an emotional rollercoaster since October.
'It was hard watching the awful moments with her,' Sandy said. 'But watching her battle and work really, really hard is a highlight. She pushes so hard. When the ventilator went away, it was awesome.'
Meanwhile, Strus is not only proud of his camps' philanthropy — raising more than $100,000 for the Andrew Weishar Foundation — he looks forward to being with the young basketball players who are trying to learn the sport.
One camp official said Strus is the only player in the NBA who runs a camp and is there for all four days.
Whether that's true, the fact is Strus is hands on at the camps and is not just lending his name to the project. In the past, he brought in some NBA chums, including Gabe Vincent. This year, Cavaliers Coach Kenny Atkinson came in for a session.
Strus also takes photos with the campers and had some fun Thursday outside the school, handing out Peppo's Subs orders in a truck to campers and parents.
When he started the camp, Strus talked about how special it was because he and Marty attended summer camps at the school.
Four years, and one foundation, later, it's still special to him.
'I've seen a lot of new faces this year and some faces of those who have been here all four years,' he said. 'The campers and their parents make it all possible and I appreciate that.
'And we want to come back again next year.'
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