Virtually everyone who knows Britt Beasley describes him in the same way: always smiling, never quits, perseveres through everything, wants to lend a hand.

And with what the Kansas University student and Free State High School graduate has gone through in the past three years, that he can keep that attitude could be considered amazing.

Beasley is in an Arizona hospital right now, battling meningitis. The doctors aren’t yet sure if it’s bacterial or viral. But as scary as meningitis can be, that’s really a small part of the problems the 20-year-old faces. Beasley has an inoperable brain tumor, pilocytic astrocytomas, which is what initially sent him to Arizona.

He was getting another dose of focused radiation therapy, his second in a year, after doctors found the tumor had grown to immense proportions. Though the radiation therapy, and surgery to remove part of the tumor, went well, the meningitis proved to be a setback for a young man Free State Assistant Principal Mike Hill said would do anything for you, his teammates or his classmates.

“All of us who come in contact with him are the better for it,” said Hill, the Free State baseball coach. “I’ve never seen him not smile. For a young man who’s had to face all the obstacles he’s had to face and to be able to always have a smile on his face speaks volumes about the kind of person he is and the courage he has.”

A huge Red Sox fan, Beasley had wanted to play baseball at Free State. But the tumor made that impossible, so instead he volunteered to be the team’s manager.

“We work with a lot of talented athletes here,” Hill said. “A lot of them stick out in your mind. Very few times do you speak of a manager the way you speak of your best player. But of all the kids who’ve come through our program, Britt stands out in (my) mind the most.”

Beasley was diagnosed three years ago when he was still at Free State. Doctors in Kansas City regularly removed cysts at the time but determined they couldn’t treat the tumor because it was in a sensitive area of his brain stem.

Eventually, however, as the tumor worsened, Beasley and his mom and stepdad – Lisa and Lynn Harrod – found the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. The institute agreed to do radiation therapy to reduce the size of the tumor.

In the 75-minute radiation session, more than 200 points of radiation focus on the tumor for several minutes at a time, for a total of 19 times.

The six-month checkup came and went and Beasley seemed to be doing well. Then, just weeks ago, a year after his surgery, doctors determined the tumor had grown back bigger than ever. Within days, the family was bound again for Phoenix, the only place where doctors were willing to do the radiation therapy.

The family, who asked not to be quoted individually for this article, said the surgery went well again. He had been recovering from the treatment, which included side effects such as temporary loss of short-term memory and double vision.

Beasley was set to return to Lawrence this weekend until the meningitis flared up.

Kevin Green, manager of the Hy-Vee on Sixth Street, where Beasley works, said he’s had a number of customers ask about Beasley since he left for Arizona.

“We have people come in and know him,” Green said. “We have people who come to our store to see him and talk to him. Frequently we have people come in and ask where he is.”

Green said Beasley was hard-working and always smiling.

“His positive attitude defines Britt, especially in light of everything he’s gone through,” Green said.

More than anything right now, Beasley needs words of encouragement, family members said. “There have been a lot of e-mails and cards sent to him. Those lighten him up a lot. All the positive comments. That’s what we need the most.”