Eric Vibbert (left) smiles at son Chase, 14, on Thursday at their home in Park City. (Joshua Lindsey/Daily News)

PARK CITY — Life has thrown budding baseball shortstop Chase Vibbert of Edmonson County a wicked curveball.

True to his baseball-honed reflexes, Chase is swinging hard in an aggressive program to treat cancer.

That can-do attitude is not surprising for the 14-year-old son of Eric and Summer Vibbert, who is a freshman at Warren East High School, his parents said. 

They will go to whatever lengths it takes to help Chase defeat the cancer. People are stepping forward in the community to help out, raising money for medical bills and to keep Chase’s spirits up.

Summer Vibbert said a fundraiser and benefit is scheduled for March. Warren Central and Warren East students recently held a “red out” against cancer at a basketball game to show their solidarity with Chase.

The quiet, well-mannered boy has lost about 30 pounds since evidence of the tumor surfaced in December. However, the swelling is down, too, as chemotherapy shrinks the tumor, hopefully to a size so small it can be removed through surgery, Eric Vibbert said.

The disease made itself known when Chase was experiencing swelling and pain in the left side of his mouth just before Christmas. He thought it might be related to the spacers he was wearing in anticipation of braces. Eventually, dental and other exams revealed a tumor in his left cheek.

Since December, the Vibberts have traveled more than 1,000 miles between their Edmonson County home and Louisville for doctors’ visits and for Chase to receive treatment. His dad said drugs to ease the pain have, at times, been more to deal with than the chemotherapy itself, which began Dec. 31. He’s taking six medicines, and his white blood cell count has declined.

Chase is like many of his peers who pay allegiance to the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team, and ESPN is on the television most of the time. As Chase chatted Thursday about the rhabdomyosarcoma located in his sinus cavity, he wore a UK sweatshirt and UK winter soft hat with a tassel on top. He talked about playing baseball in the summer and hunting ducks with his Benelli 12-gauge rifle in the winter. He likes to throw the change-up pitch when on the baseball mound, and he likes shooting basketball. He keeps his fingers busy texting and tweeting on his phone.

His parents said people have visited him at Louisville and at home to keep his spirits up. With one eye open and the other swollen shut, it looks like Chase was on the back end of a haymaker to the head.

“He’s always been an easy-going kid,” Eric Vibbert said. “You couldn’t ask for a better kid. We’re taking it day by day.”

Rhabdomyosarcoma is a cancer that’s rare in children, according to MedlinePlus, the website for the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health. 

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital reports that soft tissue sarcomas make up about 3 percent of childhood cancers, according to Chase’s profile on CaringBridge.org, a support website where his supporters can keep up with medical news, fundraisers and see pictures of Chase.

Chase receives chemotherapy at Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville. Summer Vibbert said the team of doctors wanted an aggressive approach to the tumor, so they started at week seven of the treatments. Before he lost his hair, Chase got a buzz cut. 

“If he loses his eyebrows, I’m going to lose my eyebrows,” Eric Vibbert said.

Chase has an older brother, Nathan, 18, a graduate of Edmonson County High School, and two younger siblings, Derek, 12, who attends the Edmonson County 5th/6th Center, and 4-year-old Sadie. A tutor comes to the house to help Chase with his lessons. Chase’s favorite class is physical education.

Eric Vibbert is working on Summer Vibbert’s prize 2008 Mustang GT, which she wrecked in September while returning home from Bendix. She moved to third shift so she could watch Chase play for Scottsville Xtreme Baseball. She’s been off work since the wreck, and Eric Vibbert has been laid off from Bendix. Despite their own curve balls, the parents keep a positive attitude for their son.

The plan is to check in three months to see how the chemotherapy is progressing. The current lack of swelling is encouraging, Eric Vibbert said. “(The doctors) weren’t expecting to see his face like this,” he said.

The Richardsville Volunteer Fire Department is having a boot collection fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 8 at two locations, the Minit Mart across from Warren East High School on Louisville Road and the Dollar Store on Porter Pike.

The Brownsville Community Center on March 22 will host a benefit dinner and poker run, with registration for the run beginning at 10 a.m. The community center benefit kicks off later in the day at 3 p.m.

Doctors say Chase’s cancer is moderate, but it is considered high risk because of its location. “It’s nothing he’s done, nothing he’s born with,” his dad said of the disease.

Chase, for the most part, is ready to get back to bow hunting on his grandfather Steve Denton’s Warren County land.

“He says the gun is too easy,” Eric Vibbert said, smiling at his son.

— For more information, visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/chasevibbert.

— Follow education reporter Chuck Mason on Twitter at twitter.com/bgdnschools or visit bgdailynews.com.