Timberline grad wants to work on treating cancer

Those who don?t know Gamid Abatchev are prone to underestimate him.

Treatment for a cancerous tumor under his right eye when he was 8 stole his vision in that eye and affected his overall growth. At 5-foot-4 and 95 pounds, the 18-year-old is frail and fragile.

But Abatchev ? born in Moscow, Russia, and raised in Boise ? developed himself into a worthy opponent on Timberline High School?s boys varsity tennis team (No. 3 as a senior) and a formidable intellectual presence in the classroom, teachers and coaches said this week.

?I used to love to watch him play players who were bigger, stronger and older,? said David Archibald-Seiffer, who was Abatchev?s JV tennis coach in ninth grade and teacher for 10th-grade accelerated English.

?His strategy is so sharp. He had kids running into fences and looking like buffoons on the court,? Archibald-Seiffer said. ?He was able to place the ball where he wanted.?

Abatchev is one of the top students in Timberline?s 2012 graduating class, which holds its commencement Wednesday. He took 10 AP classes in the past three years.

Abatchev took AP chemistry as a sophomore ? the youngest student that longtime chemistry teacher Carol Foss had admitted until this year.

?He asks a lot of questions,? Foss said. ?You can tell he?s always seeing beyond what most kids see. He always wants to understand things on a deeper level. He certainly kept me on my toes.?

His inquisitiveness, love for science and wide-ranging interests also made him a strong competitor on the school?s Quiz Bowl team. He tried to make science fun for fellow students by reinvigorating and leading the DaVinci Club, which did demonstrations during the lunch hour.

ROOTS IN RUSSIA

Abatchev?s family moved to Boise when he was about 3?, when his father was hired by Micron after a stint with Samsung in South Korea.

Russian was Abatchev?s first language, but he speaks English with no discernable accent.

?At home, we only speak Russian,? he said. ?My parents said don?t forget where you come from, and it?s good to speak two languages.?

His father holds a Ph.D. in physics; his mother has a master?s in biology. His aunt, uncle and grandfather are college professors. His brother, Zagid, 22, is working on a Ph.D. in geophysics at UCLA.

CANCEROUS TUMOR

When Abatchev was in third grade, he started feeling exhausted all the time. He suffered frequent earaches.

Doctors thought the boy had pain from new teeth or ear infections, but antibiotics didn?t work. Then they found a suspicious growth next to his sinus.

It was rabdoma sarcoma, a form of cancer in connective tissue cells.

?I really didn?t understand what was happening,? said Abatchev, who went through 11 months of chemotherapy and more than two months of radiation. ?It wasn?t fun.?

He was home-schooled during fourth grade but sometimes visited his class at Trail Wind Elementary School.

The treatments stopped the cancer but damaged his developing eye. Today he sees only shadows and light with it. He wears sunglasses to avoid questions about his eye.

?It was the price for getting rid of everything (cancer). A lot of people go through a lot more and give up a lot more,? he said.

Left very weak after the treatments, he gave up soccer and ice hockey ? a sport he still loves.

?I even have dreams sometimes that I?m playing,? he said.

Unwilling to ?sit and do nothing,? he picked up tennis. He focused on racquet skills and technique while he regained his strength. He developed deadly accuracy, despite his reduced depth perception.

The hallmarks of his high school game were precision and patience, his coaches said. He didn?t quit when he got behind, pulling out wins in tough third-set matches.

?Many times he?d be the last person on the court, and we?d be all cheering him on,? said Jeff Smith, head boys tennis coach at Timberline.

HELPING FIND A CURE

Abatchev?s favorite high school class was AP biology. He is fascinated by the human body and the functioning of our ?billions and billions of cells.? There?s still so much for scientists to learn about the human body, he says.

?We could do a lot better,? he said.

He is going to the University of California-Davis on academic scholarships. He plans to major in biomedical engineering.

He?s interested in helping design and develop new equipment or methods to stop cancer.

He hasn?t ruled out a career in medicine, inspired by the professionals who treated his cancer.

?I feel kind of a debt that I want to repay,? he said. ?I want to help people out.?

Katy Moeller: 377-6413

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