Meet Our Families

By Paul and Susan Hamm

April 25, 2000 was our lucky day when God smiled upon us and gave us our “little miracle” Zachary. He came into this world kicking and fighting and has not stopped yet! He has enriched our lives in so many ways we cannot remember how life was before Zach.

After doing extensive research we finally put all of the pieces together and learned that Zach was affected by ectodermal dysplasia in 2003. Shortly after that we became part of the NFED family. The NFED was and continues to be huge help in our journey with ectodermal dysplasias.

As Zach grew, he came to love all sports, particularly baseball. He never considered for one minute that having only three toes might be a problem for a baseball player. Zach started playing tee ball at age three, loved it and did very well. He has been playing baseball ever since. He has now played 10 “seasons” in six years. His beloved Mudcats are a team of considerable reputation having won three championships since 2006. Zach has hit at least one homerun every season he has played.

In the fall of 2007, Zach started playing golf. His budding golf career was interrupted by leg surgery and he did not play golf again until late spring 2008. He has since played in 16 South Texas PGA Little Linkster Golf Tournaments winning one and collecting medals in seven others. Once again, Zach never considered that golf may be too big of a challenge for a guy who doesn’t do so well in the heat!

Zach has been blessed to have so many people in his life that have loved and helped him. Living in the Houston area, we are fortunate to have a team of doctors who are each considered top in their fields and heroes to Zach.

Zach has also met a number of professional athletes that have made a big difference in his life. He has watched and learned from everyone he has met and picked up an amazing amount of empathy and concern for those around him. This has led the entire Hamm family to want to help those individuals who are affected by ectodermal dysplasias.

Since there are three golfers in the family and we have all played in plenty of golf tournaments, we decided that would be a great avenue to raise awareness and money for our NFED family. We have called on friends, business contacts, family and anyone else we feel could help us in this endeavor. It has helped that Zach is well known and loved in our community.

It has been a lot of work, but like all worthy causes, it is well worth all of the effort.

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