Photo by: Jeffrey Gamza/Pitt Athletics
Full Circle for a Forever Panther
11/16/2018 1:04:00 PM | Football, General
Buches Family Brings Together Pitt Community
PITTSBURGH – The Pitt football game at Heinz Field on Sept. 8, 2018, was unquestionably a night to remember for the Buches family.
Prior to the game, the Pitt faithful in the stands were able to witness a momentous event for Forever Panther Steve Buches. A former Pitt tight end and 2006 graduate, Buches pushed a stroller carrying his 3-year-old son, Stephen, out to midfield alongside inductee Mike Ditka for the coin toss.
In a Pitt football tradition that dates back 29 years, having Stephen participate in the coin toss as the Children's Hospital Honorary Captain of the Game was significant for many reasons.
Stephen has suffered seizures since he was 12 hours old and was not expected to see his third birthday. But there he was, defying the odds on the sidelines with his father alongside Current, Future and Forever Panthers.
One could say the moment came full circle for Steve, who, as former a Pitt football captain and Forever Panther himself, participated in the same tradition as a student-athlete, 12 years prior.
"I'm not going to be able to do a lot of things with Stephen," Steve said. "But this experience, being an honorary captain, considering the fact that I was a captain at Pitt – that's not something that number one, you can pay for, and number two, that just gets handed out to you. How many fathers get to share that same experience with their son? It's got to be few and far between, so that alone makes it just that much more special."
The Buches' connection to Pittsburgh runs deep, as Steve and his wife Amy are both Steel City natives and both competed in varsity athletics at Pitt. Steve was a standout tight end for the Panthers from 2002-06, and the former Amy Kunich starred as point guard for the women's basketball team from 2001-05.
The couple has four children, Addison, Michaela, Stephen, and James. Both Steve and Amy are teachers in local school districts. Steve teaches fifth grade at McKnight Elementary and coaches football at Penn Hills High School. Amy is a mathematics teacher at Fox Chapel High School.
"With both Amy and I being athletes, the amount of resiliency, hard work and extra effort that we've had to put into our athletic careers – as corny as it sounds – it still translates into life," Steve said. "Even now that I'm thinking about it, when Stephen was first born I remember I read to him every night before I went to bed, and it's those lessons learned in football that kind of carried over into life. To be able to fulfill what is a dream for my son, who I thought he and I would have a very limited amount to share, I can't really express with words how meaningful that experience is to me."
Among many obstacles Steve and Amy have faced, the largest has been the fight for a discontinued medication that has helped Stephen's condition, called Potiga.
"We thought that even though the drug was going to be discontinued, we would be able to get a supply that may give us a two-to-three-year buffer while finding a replacement drug, or while other drugs were in clinical trials and became available to replace Potiga," Amy said. "But, we got a message from the pharmacy that they weren't going to be able to give out their supply because they received a notice saying that even though there was a supply, they had to send everything in their pharmacy back because it was not allowed to be dispensed to the patients. We were in a bind because we didn't have enough supply to see if we weaned Stephen from a powerful drug with potential side effects of weaning, and if done too quickly it can cause more seizures."
Matt Flaus, who coaches alongside Steve at Penn Hills and is also a former Pitt football teammate, spoke of Steve and Amy's resilience.
"It's like [Steve and Amy] took every lesson that they learned through athletics and used it in regards to their personal life, being strong and handling adversity, they handle something every single day," Flaus said. "They're dealing with things that are so complicated and never complain. They never have those pity moments where you're like, 'oh the world's against me, I can't believe this happened.' They just keep moving. It's unbelievable to us how well they deal with everything and how strong they are."
Support for the Buches family and the awareness of Stephen's condition links together multiple communities in the Pittsburgh area. One of the culminations of that support is a benefit event hosted by close family friend Joe DiRenzo, co-owner of the Bulldog Pub in the Morningside neighborhood.
Hosted for the first time in 2016, the event has raised more than $10,000 for the Epilepsy Foundation of Western/Central Pennsylvania over the past two years. The third event will be held Saturday, Nov. 17, at the pub.
"Seeing the challenges there are for Steve and Amy firsthand, I wanted to do whatever I could to help," DiRenzo said. "I couldn't think of a better cause, or one nearer and dearer to friends of mine and myself. I joke around that Stephen's 'a little bulldog' because they're typically tough, and Stephen is a tough little guy."
While the fundraiser helps the cause in numerous ways, according to Steve and Amy, the most important benefit of the event is the spread of awareness about Stephen's genetic mutation, called KCNQ2.
"Although it's rare, it's a genetic mutation that is random and not passed down from a parent," Amy said. "Knowing the unexpectedness of a life changing diagnosis, not only in having a child but then catering to a child with special needs, it's important to understand what's going on with the disease as well as finding better treatments so that the kids can have a better quality of life."
#H2P | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Prior to the game, the Pitt faithful in the stands were able to witness a momentous event for Forever Panther Steve Buches. A former Pitt tight end and 2006 graduate, Buches pushed a stroller carrying his 3-year-old son, Stephen, out to midfield alongside inductee Mike Ditka for the coin toss.
In a Pitt football tradition that dates back 29 years, having Stephen participate in the coin toss as the Children's Hospital Honorary Captain of the Game was significant for many reasons.
Stephen has suffered seizures since he was 12 hours old and was not expected to see his third birthday. But there he was, defying the odds on the sidelines with his father alongside Current, Future and Forever Panthers.
One could say the moment came full circle for Steve, who, as former a Pitt football captain and Forever Panther himself, participated in the same tradition as a student-athlete, 12 years prior.
"I'm not going to be able to do a lot of things with Stephen," Steve said. "But this experience, being an honorary captain, considering the fact that I was a captain at Pitt – that's not something that number one, you can pay for, and number two, that just gets handed out to you. How many fathers get to share that same experience with their son? It's got to be few and far between, so that alone makes it just that much more special."
The Buches' connection to Pittsburgh runs deep, as Steve and his wife Amy are both Steel City natives and both competed in varsity athletics at Pitt. Steve was a standout tight end for the Panthers from 2002-06, and the former Amy Kunich starred as point guard for the women's basketball team from 2001-05.
The couple has four children, Addison, Michaela, Stephen, and James. Both Steve and Amy are teachers in local school districts. Steve teaches fifth grade at McKnight Elementary and coaches football at Penn Hills High School. Amy is a mathematics teacher at Fox Chapel High School.
"With both Amy and I being athletes, the amount of resiliency, hard work and extra effort that we've had to put into our athletic careers – as corny as it sounds – it still translates into life," Steve said. "Even now that I'm thinking about it, when Stephen was first born I remember I read to him every night before I went to bed, and it's those lessons learned in football that kind of carried over into life. To be able to fulfill what is a dream for my son, who I thought he and I would have a very limited amount to share, I can't really express with words how meaningful that experience is to me."
Among many obstacles Steve and Amy have faced, the largest has been the fight for a discontinued medication that has helped Stephen's condition, called Potiga.
"We thought that even though the drug was going to be discontinued, we would be able to get a supply that may give us a two-to-three-year buffer while finding a replacement drug, or while other drugs were in clinical trials and became available to replace Potiga," Amy said. "But, we got a message from the pharmacy that they weren't going to be able to give out their supply because they received a notice saying that even though there was a supply, they had to send everything in their pharmacy back because it was not allowed to be dispensed to the patients. We were in a bind because we didn't have enough supply to see if we weaned Stephen from a powerful drug with potential side effects of weaning, and if done too quickly it can cause more seizures."
Matt Flaus, who coaches alongside Steve at Penn Hills and is also a former Pitt football teammate, spoke of Steve and Amy's resilience.
"It's like [Steve and Amy] took every lesson that they learned through athletics and used it in regards to their personal life, being strong and handling adversity, they handle something every single day," Flaus said. "They're dealing with things that are so complicated and never complain. They never have those pity moments where you're like, 'oh the world's against me, I can't believe this happened.' They just keep moving. It's unbelievable to us how well they deal with everything and how strong they are."
Support for the Buches family and the awareness of Stephen's condition links together multiple communities in the Pittsburgh area. One of the culminations of that support is a benefit event hosted by close family friend Joe DiRenzo, co-owner of the Bulldog Pub in the Morningside neighborhood.
Hosted for the first time in 2016, the event has raised more than $10,000 for the Epilepsy Foundation of Western/Central Pennsylvania over the past two years. The third event will be held Saturday, Nov. 17, at the pub.
"Seeing the challenges there are for Steve and Amy firsthand, I wanted to do whatever I could to help," DiRenzo said. "I couldn't think of a better cause, or one nearer and dearer to friends of mine and myself. I joke around that Stephen's 'a little bulldog' because they're typically tough, and Stephen is a tough little guy."
While the fundraiser helps the cause in numerous ways, according to Steve and Amy, the most important benefit of the event is the spread of awareness about Stephen's genetic mutation, called KCNQ2.
"Although it's rare, it's a genetic mutation that is random and not passed down from a parent," Amy said. "Knowing the unexpectedness of a life changing diagnosis, not only in having a child but then catering to a child with special needs, it's important to understand what's going on with the disease as well as finding better treatments so that the kids can have a better quality of life."
#H2P | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Pitt Football | Allen Greene Media Availability | 8.7.25
Thursday, August 07
Allen Greene at Pitt Night at PNC Park
Monday, June 23
Allen Greene Interview with Dan Zangrilli | Pitt Athletics
Saturday, June 21
Allen Greene Interview with Dan Zangrilli
Saturday, June 21