WE NEED MORE ZACHS: Teen’s gruelling year ends on high

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It has been the worst, and the best, of years for Zachary Rayment.

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Zach’s 2025 hit a high in the summer, when he schmoozed with his beloved Toronto FC, captivating them so much that midfielder Djordje Mihailovic opined on a team video, “We need more Zachs.”

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The low of Zach’s 2025 coincided with that visit by the soccer stars because it took place around Zach’s hospital bed, where he was recovering from surgery so punishing it hurts to write about it.

Doctors broke each of his legs in three places, twisted them straight, then pinned them back together.

Zach, who turned 17 last weekend, has cerebral palsy. His knees were relentlessly and painfully turning in on themselves.

Four months in hospital

He was in hospital for four months, most of it gruelling physiotherapy, including gritty hallway marathons with his walker.

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Somehow, Zach found humour. As they wheeled him into the operating theatre, he hammed it up, shaping his surgical cap as a conehead.

That was June 30. He finally got out on Oct. 24.

At first, 2025 persisted as a bummer. Zach was behind in school. “Grade 11 homework is rough!” says the kid fresh out of grinding rehab — and who always aces math, chemistry and physics and takes history “for fun.”

Worse, he worried he wasn’t recovering as fast as he did when they cut and lengthened his leg muscles in 2021 to relieve pressure.

‘Great surprise’

But wait …

“That was muscles. This was bones,” his surgeon said at his latest assessment. “You’re rockin’ it. We couldn’t be happier.”

“That was a really great surprise,” says Zach.

“Now all the benefits of the hard work are starting to hit me at once. The year is ending on a high note.”

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For one thing, the surgery made him taller. For another, he’s getting around the house using only canes. He’s back at practice, piloting an electric cart with Variety Village’s Volt hockey team, which has a tourney next week. And he’s almost caught up at school.

But his biggest breakthrough is in the Village swimming pool. Zach is a veteran of the famed Flames team, but he’d never been “rated” for para-swimming events, his testing postponed by surgeries and the pandemic.

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When he did compete, he usually finished well back, not surprising since he’s a quadriplegic. Officials even looked the other way at starts because Zach needed someone to hold him up, which is verboten.

In November, he finally got his national rating: S2.

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Well, very few S2s in the world compete in para-swimming. If you’re an S2 in a pool, you are liable to drown.

Says Zach, drily: “I guess not too many quadriplegics have said, ‘Great, I can’t really move, so let’s see if I can swim.’”

Zach, however, has been training and competing — over his head, so to speak — for years.

“It says a lot about the people at Variety Village,” says Zach. “No one told me I couldn’t do this.”

Same for his family. “We’d be at (other) pools,” says his dad, Simon Rayment, “and we’d toss Zachary in and people would say, ‘Hey, you just threw your disabled kid in the pool!’

“And we’d say, ‘It’s OK, he’s just gonna do lengths.’”

Now, suddenly, Zach Rayment is a potential world-class para-swimmer, S2 class. Flames coaches can start working on the fineries of national competition, and eventually international.

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“First thing my dad did was google the Paralympics in 2028,” says Zach.

Those Games are in Los Angeles.

You never know — 2028 might be a very good year for Zach Rayment.

Northchannelmike@gmail.com

HOW TO HELP

“The programs are part of it,” says Zach Rayment, “but the main thing at Variety Village is the people.

“You’re not just patient #45. We’re a bunch of people who care about each other. It’s a community.”

You can help keep it so at the iconic east-end sports centre geared to kids with disabilities. We’re inching toward our 2025 goal of $260,000, with two days left. Donate direct at sunchristmasfund.ca. Join these recent donors on our honour roll:

Claudette St. Pierre, East York, $50

Mitch Klinger, North York, $25

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Anonymous, Toronto, $200

Anonymous, Mississauga, $30

Anonymous, Guelph, $100, in memory of Dr. Lorenzo and Mrs. Diana LeBlanc

Anonymous, Oakville, $250

Eliane Menzie, Quebec, $10, in honour of granddaughter Kyra

Jeff Markus, North York, $50

Angus Chisholm, Scarborough, $50

Anonymous, Richmond Hill, $75

Raul A., North York, $50

Sharon Boynton, New Tecumseth, $200

Anonymous, Brooklin, $100

Claudio Ciampini, Vaughan, $100

Oliver Giesen, Brampton, $100, in memory of Christine Giesen

Jason Liang, York, $200

TOTAL TO DATE: $248,241

Suggested main art: Zach Rayment in Variety Village pool. (BARB RAYMENT photo)

Inset: Zach Rayment hams it up with his surgical cap before heading into major surgery at Sick Kids. (BARB RAYMENT photo)

Downpage: Zach Rayment in signed Toronto FC jersey at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehab. (BARB RAYMENT photo)

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