David Bergamasco turning a diagnosis into a blessing

When you watch David Bergamasco it's like he was born to run.

But it wasn't always that way.

At the age of five, David's life changed. He developed severe pain in his lower body and couldn't walk.

The diagnosis?

"This is Legg-Calve-Perthes," the doctor's told Katherine Bergamasco. "I said what is that?"

Legg-Calve Perthes Disease occurs when the ball of the thigh bone in the hip doesn't get enough blood. Without blood, the bone will die.

For the next year and a half, David was put in a full leg cast and a wheelchair.

"Everyone was really into sports, everyone was doing baseball or soccer since they were really young and I was behind the par curve for everything," David said.

The prognosis for this disease is a new hip joint every two to three years. Playing any sport would be hard.

"It was torture because he was such an active child," Katherine said.

"I had to learn how to ride a bike again," David added. "I had to start over for a lot of things."

But then a miracle happened.

David was getting set for his first hip replacement when doctors couldn't believe their eyes. His x-rays showed his hip wouldn't need replacing. Ever.

"Never mind," the doctors told Katherine. "He's cleared, signed him out that day."

Playing a sport was now an option but the bone was still weak. With advice from a coach, David started to run and he's been running ever since.

As a senior with the Williamsville South track & field team, David has become one of their top long distance runners.

He's a miracle in the eyes of his mother.

"It's the most amazing thing any parent can go through," Katherine said. "I keep going to the doctor and ask 'is he doing okay' and they say he's fine. He's just fine."

A kid who couldn't even walk at the age of seven is headed to college on a track scholarship.

What David went through was hard, but he's living by the words: everything happens for a reason.

"I don't think I would've gotten very serious about it and I wouldn't be going to college for any sport if none of this wouldn't have happened," David said.

Taking what life gives you and running with it.