Liam Has a Champion

   It is no surprise that Davis Eames, the 12-year-old champion A.T.V. rider, and Julie Baum’s 7-year-old son, Liam, who suffers from an aggressive form of epilepsy, have teamed up, Baum said during a telephone conversation Monday.

    “Each of them has an ability to touch other people’s hearts — they’re empathic,” Baum said. “They have the gift of bringing people together. Neither of them puts anyone down — they see through differences. This gift is not common. If it were, the world would be a far better place.”

    Liam, “the Mayor of Springs School,” according to his mother, suffered a tonic-clonic [formerly grand mal] seizure at the Eameses’ house on a play date a while ago, an experience that profoundly affected Davis, who has dedicated her young racing career to finding a cure for the disease Liam suffers from, Dravet’s Syndrome.

    At all of her races henceforth, she’ll ask the attendees to make contributions to the Dravet Syndrome Foundation, and plans to sell some of her myriad trophies so that she can donate to the foundation as well.

    “It’s a genetic mutation epilepsy,” said Baum. “He’s had it since he was 5 months old, and yet, while a seizure can occur at any time, he plays baseball and basketball. . . . He’s said to me, ‘Mom, I have to keep trying.’ ”

    “We’ve been having some success with a drug from France, Stiripentol,” she continued. “The disease is tricky, very tenacious, and it can be catastrophic. There’s always a chance he can have a seizure, but the kid keeps on going! He’s one of the sweetest kids. No wonder he and Davis, who’s so engaged in life, and who sees in Liam all of his potential, connected.”

    Melissa Eames, Davis’s mother, said this week that donations to the Dravet Syndrome Foundation can be made in Davis’s name at DavisAgainstDravet. com.v