mmg.com.au

Sam Allen had done it a million times before.

But this time was different.

The cricket-mad Shepparton teenager experienced back pain after bowling as he was preparing for the 2011-12 season.

It was the beginning of a roller-coaster ride for the now 14-year-old and his family.

In January last year, with the back pain failing to subside, Allen was taken to see former Melbourne club doctor Andrew Daff.

He had an MRI, with doctors suspecting stress fractures.

What was discovered was far worse.

The scans revealed a shadow on his spine and a suspected tumor.

He was sent immediately to the Royal Children’s Hospital to see a neurosurgeon.

This became a regular occurrence.

In July, it was decided that Allen would go under the knife to remove part of the base of his skull.

His spinal cord was narrowing because of the obstruction and was restricting the flow of spinal fluid.

There were complications.

Fluid on the brain left Allen bed-ridden for two weeks and barely able to function.

His parents, Jayne and Peter Crawford, and Grant Allen, and older brother Jake Allen, 16, maintained a constant bedside vigil.

Allen pulled through.

The pain remains, but the spinal obstruction has not continued to grow, leading doctors to believe it may be a syrinx — a rare, fluid-filled neuroglial cavity within the spinal cord.

At the weekend, the Old Students B-grade wicketkeeper-batsman will line up alongside Jake when they take on Northerners in Cricket Shepparton’s B-grade final at Shepparton’s Princess Park.

It is something, less than a year ago, the duo could barely have dreamed of.

Doctors told Allen he was unlikely to be able to continue to play sport as a result of his condition.

‘‘I was shattered,’’ Allen said.

‘‘I love cricket and I didn’t know what to think.’’

But he didn’t allow that fateful conversation to define him.

The young man, nicknamed ‘‘Humphrey’’ for his renowned lack of chat on-and-off the field, is a fighter.

Students president Vince Gagliardi said he would love to have a team of Allens.

‘‘Sam has a massive heart,’’ Gagliardi said.

‘‘If we had a team of blokes with his heart, we would be a lot better off.’’

His initial return was subdued.

There was no bowling in the nets.

Even wicketkeeping took a backseat in the short-term.

But slowly Allen’s confidence grew.

By last week’s semi-final he was back as the Allen everyone at Chapman Oval has come to know.

He was the first choice wicketkeeper and shared in an ultimately match-winning 70-run stand with skipper David Earl.

His mother, Jayne Crawford, said it would be ‘‘massive’’ watching her youngest son take to the field in the B-grade decider.

‘‘He just pushes through the pain every week,’’ she said.

‘‘I really don’t know how he does it.

‘‘He played last weekend and I don’t think he got out of bed on Monday.

‘‘Emotionally it has had a massive toll on all of us, but he loves his cricket and seeing him push through it and make a senior cricket grand final is just an amazing achievement.’’

Allen’s fight will continue beyond the weekend.

But a win would stave off some of the pain he has endured across the past 12 months.