According to Rebecca Bateson, when her boy, Andrew, dreams, he dreams about running about, playing games and riding his bike on healthy legs. Unfortunately, reality hasn't been as kind. When the 12-year-old Providence, R.I., resident wakes up, he faces the same daily challenges as any other bilateral amputee.

No one knows if his dreams are the residue of his former life as a feisty, fully limbed boy, or subconscious wish fulfillment. Whatever the case, Andrew now tackles life with the special gusto reserved only for the young.

"He's been very resilient," says Rebecca. "He's made it easy for us as parents. He's made being a parent the true joy that it should be. He doesn't allow us to get down."

Trouble is, his folks have difficulty getting him down, down from the hill when he's busy snowboarding. When he's not snowboarding, he's suiting up for the Brown University Youth Hockey League, or playing in the Cranston Street Roller Hockey League.    

"He's definitely allowed my husband and I to put our lives in perspective," says Rebecca. "The goals that we had before all this happened have changed drastically. After Andrew's sickness, it's suddenly not as important that we have a fancy house or a nice car. Now, we just take each day as it comes."

That tends to happen when you see your second-born child lying, comatose, at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence. When Andrew Bateson contracted bacterial meningitis, its flu-like systems did little to worry his parents. Some bed rest and over-the-counter medication would get the frisky six-year-old up and running in no time, right?

By the time Andrew reached the hospital, this very deceptive disease had already done some serious damage. Due to circulation problems caused by the meningitis, Andrew's legs had to be amputated below the knee. Things were touch and go for some time, and by the time he exited the hospital, Andrew was – at least physically – a shadow of his spunky self.

"When we were in the hospital and he didn't know he had lost his legs, yet, we were very uptight about how he was going to handle it," adds  father Scott. "But he's done such a great job, much more than I ever expected of him at the time."

In essence, Andrew basically missed out on a year of life. To his parents, at the time, it seemed like a long recovery, but Andrew was back to running around, biking and normal little-boy activities in only a year. He also had to learn how to walk, and then to skate, on prosthetic legs.

"Our philosophy is to allow children to participate in any and all activities they want to participate in," says Peter Couture, President of Next Step Orthotics and Prosthetics, the Warwick, R.I.-based company that furnishes Andrew's prosthetic legs. "It would be a tragedy for kids like Andrew to be sitting on the sidelines while his friends play hockey. We want Andrew to put on his legs every day and forget that he's an amputee."

Nothing can keep Andrew down. Here he tries out his new snowboard.

Mission accomplished. Andrew's not only grown used to his prosthetic legs, he's even developed a good-natured sense of humor about them, recently relating an on-ice incident that still causes him to chuckle. "One time I was roller-blading in a hockey game, and I lost a pin from the back of my [prosthetic] leg, so we had everyone on both teams on their hands and knees looking for it."

This unflappable attitude serves Andrew well. He never dwells on the tragic nature of his condition; that's for people with time on their hands. Andrew simply goes out and plays and plays and plays, whether it's with his pals or pooch, Crissy.

"He does get down once in a great while, when he's having a tough day and there's lots of pain," says Rebecca, "but five minutes later he gets something to play with and he's playing again.

"His spirit and attitude are really amazing," adds Rebecca. "From the time he was a year old, he was a handful, and my mother-in-law always said, ‘Don't break his spirit.' I really think it's that spirit that's gotten him through this."

Andrew has little, if any, patience for passive, indoor activities. He loves speed, whether it's skiing, snowboarding or playing hockey. And like most little boys, he loves to light the lamp.

"I like scoring, but I also like helping my team play," adds Andrew, a sixth-grader who roots for the Providence College Friars hockey team, and both the Boston and Providence Bruins. "I don't do much physical stuff when I play... well, maybe a little bit."

Although he scoots around the ice like a seasoned vet now, his post-illness condition presented unique skating challenges. Andrew had skated briefly before getting sick, so he wasn't a total stranger to the ice, and he was an active, athletic boy before his hospital trip. Even so, when he petitioned his parents to begin skating lessons just more than a year after his initial diagnosis, they were understandably gun shy.

"I thought that this was a really bad idea," admits Rebecca. "I thought we were setting him up for failure."

But Andrew's sunny optimism and Scott's wish to instill confidence in his son prevailed. Rebecca's instincts proved correct - for maybe a session or two. On their first night at the rink, Scott cringed as Andrew fell again and again, needing his father's help to right himself because he hadn't learned to pick himself up. "I always tried to show confidence for him," says Scott, "but I was always afraid and didn't want him to get hurt."

Andrew was, of course, very discouraged after Night No. 1. But soon, he made his way from the beginners' side of the ice to the intermediate portion, and then he was buzzing around the rink.

"Next thing you know, he's skating around without the crates and things started to pick up," recalls the father. "That same year, maybe two months after Andrew started, a coach from the house league asked if he'd like to be on his team."

Some coaches knew about his condition, but the new coach didn't, and so was launched Andrew's hockey career. In addition to playing in the Brown ice hockey league and the Cranston roller-hockey league, Andrew has been flirting with the American Amputee Hockey Association Youth Team. /

Andrew skated with the developmental program once, at the Ulin Rink in Milton, Mass., and hopes to maintain contact with the organization. "They get together and play three or four times a year," says Scott. "I think the goal is to develop players to skate for the U.S. in the Paralympic Games."

So, a mere six years after his near-death experience, the sky's the limit for Andrew - sometimes literally, as he takes to the sky on his new snowboard.

Joe O'Shea is a freelance writer in Boston.