Thursday, April 26, 2007

Seatlle's Biggest Fan - A Sports Blog - Sorta.

I remember a cloudy July morning. I turned on ESPN and watched some Sportscenter. They were doing a special piece called: "My Wish". It was narrated by Chris Connelly.

This particular piece (part of a 10 part series) was about a young girl named Katie Morris. She was 12 years old at the time and was suffering from a brain tumor. Katie was a very active young girl with an intense love for baseball. She was the only girl in her town that played on the little league team. After the tumor, obviously her life changed.

As part of the series, the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted her wish of seeing her favorite baseball team, the Seattle Mariners in action. It was a 150 mile trek to Seattle from her Oregon home. The Foundation was gracious enough to send her entire little league team with her to spend the day at the ballpark. In the video, once Katie stepped foot on the field, she knelt down and kissed the ground. With every player that she met, her eyes went wide with amazement and awe. In the biggest surprise of the day, Katie's best friend from her little league team, who had moved to the south with his family a few years previous, was also flown up for the day. The reunion was a sight like no other. Katie had the best day of her life, and she was truly Seattle's biggest fan.

It was a heart wrenching story that was beautifully done. I hope that I am not the only one to have seen it.

Katie celebrated her 13th birthday on the 19th of April. She passed away today. Sometimes stories stick with you and hearing this news today brought tears to my eyes and made me think. My problems are mundane and insignificant when the battle and struggle of a child such as Katie is taking place in this world. ESPN is airing replays of this My Wish segment at various times. It would be well worth it to catch it.

My thoughts go out to the family and friends of Seattle's biggest fan.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

on a lighter note, are we still planning something tomorrow?

Anonymous said...

jon, i like you digging deep with these blogs. i commend you for not feeling too vulnerable to deal with your emotions. on the other hand, you are still talking about sports- blah blah blah. :)