Jarren Sorters' Last Baseball Tournament

GIFT OF PICTURES

August 9, 2017 at 5:00 a.m.

by Mark Humphrey ENTERPRISE-LEADER

Billy Don Cates Special to the Enteprise-Leader Jarren Sorters, then 14 (second from left), poses when his NWA Muddogs team during a tournament at Kansas City June 26, 2015. Jarren had suffered a broken foot in Nov. 2013 and began complaining of pain shortly after the tournament. He was diagnosed with sarcoma, a form of childhood cancer, and had a leg amputated in Oct. 2014. Jarren went on peacefully in his sleep nearly a year ago at his home at Prairie Grove Aug. 11, 2016. His family keeps his memory alive while raising funds to fight childhood cancer with the Play4Jarren Foundation.
Billy Don Cates Special to the Enteprise-Leader Jarren Sorters, then 14 (second from left), poses when his NWA Muddogs team during a tournament at Kansas City June 26, 2015. Jarren had suffered a broken foot in Nov. 2013 and began complaining of pain shortly after the tournament. He was diagnosed with sarcoma, a form of childhood cancer, and had a leg amputated in Oct. 2014. Jarren went on peacefully in his sleep nearly a year ago at his home at Prairie Grove Aug. 11, 2016. His family keeps his memory alive while raising funds to fight childhood cancer with the Play4Jarren Foundation.

PRAIRIE GROVE -- Action baseball and other photos of Jarren Sorters, who passed Aug. 11, 2016, at age 15, continue to pop up

"One of the biggest joys I get is when someone sends us a picture we've never seen before, or maybe it is one we've seen but forgotten about," said Jarren's mother, Donna Sorters. "It's emotional, it's heart-wrenching because there are going to be no more pictures, but at the same time pictures are a gift. It makes you smile to see a picture you've never seen. Having those pictures, it's the gift of memories."

Photos on this page were taken by Billy Don Cates during the last baseball competition Jarren participated in with his team, the NWA Muddogs during a 14 & Under tournament at Kansas City in June of 2015. Childhood cancer took Jarren Aug. 11, 2016, one month short of his 16th birthday that would have arrived Sept. 11, 2016.

"A lot of times I feel angry, yeah, we were robbed. I won't get to see him graduate or get married or any of that other stuff," says his father, Prairie Grove athletic director Joey Sorters. "But on the other hand, God is in control. He has a plan."

Donna Sorters acknowledges the family will never understand why Jarren died so young this side of heaven, yet is grateful for each day they had together as a family.

"We focus on what we did have with him. What we did instill within him, what God worked with him."

Sports on 08/09/2017