I am currently sitting in a Panera just down the road from my hotel in Indianapolis. They kick me out of here at 9 o clock each night, but I refuse to pay the 6 dollars a day to get wireless internet in the hotel. I am excited to get back for the Lakers - Nuggets game tonight anyway. No internet will keep me free from distractions.
So here's a story about a young man that had a big impact on me. In the fall, when we played Ohio State at Lucas Oil Stadium, as part of the schedule for that game, we went and visited Peyton Manning's Children Hospital. I've always been a big Peyton fan, but even more now after seeing where his money has gone. This place is impressive and cool for the kids. We split up into two groups and visited many kids. Some kids were preemie, others in for surgeries, but there was also an oncology section.
It was in the oncology section of the hospital that I met Dylan. In our tall group of basketball players come towering in. Dylan had a tube in his throat and his talk sounded very mechanical because of it. It added to his mystique in the same way a person's accent does the first time you meet them. Dylan was a little shy on this day, but he warmed up when I asked him if he liked the movie Cars because I saw a sticker of the movie on his wall. Tory asked him who his favorite character was and he wouldn't say. When I did my best impersonation of Lightning McQueen and said "Kachow!" his face lit up and that was the moment Dylan held a special place in my heart. Here is a kid with cancer at 6, but he's still a kid. Lightning McQueen lights him up the same way it would any other kid. We got to talking and the nurse asked him do you like basketball Dylan and he boldly said, "No." We all laughed and instantly fell for him because Dylan was very mature for his age and he knew what he wanted. He liked us because we were visiting him and cared enough to spedn some time with him. It didn't matter that we played basketball. Afterwards all the guys were talking about how much we all liked Dylan and we all wished we could do more for him. I grabbed the nurse before we left and talked to her about Dylan and possibly a Christmas list or something because we would all like to help out. She got excited and said that Dylan had a Christmas list all written out, but probably wouldn't be able to get everything on it. I told her to email me the list and I would be driving by Indianapolis on my way home for Christmas so I would stop in.
We got back to school and I have some great teammates. All of the guys that were in with my Dylan pitched in something. Kyle bought Transformers for him because that was what Kyle talked to him about. Tim Andree went out and bought the semi from cars that turned into an entire racetrack so he could play with it in his bed. Tyler was in town, so Tyler, Mom, Hope, and I went shopping for Dylan. We found him some neat shirts and a huge Lightning McQueen pillow along with some Lightning McQueen crocs.
We delivered them all to Dylan on our way home. It was pretty early that chilly morning in December, and Dylan wasn't feeling good. He had just had chemo and radiation treatments that morning and wasn't real excited about seeing us. He pulled the sheet over his head and didn't want to talk to us. We said that's fine we just wanted to bring him the gifts. Molly, the nurse then took the Lightning McQueen shaped oversized pillow and slid it it under the covers. That got him excited!!! He had so much fun unwrapping the gifts and seeing what he had for Christmas. He said thanks, but not much else beyond that. Dylan may have been the one that got the gifts, but his smile gave me the best present that I received this past Christmas. Afterwards I told Molly that sometimes I work out in Indy and might be here again this summer. Last week I found out the hotel I am staying out is a 5 minute walk from Peyton Manning's Children's Hospital, so first thing I thought was Dylan!!! I was excited to see my little partner again!
On Thursday before heading to Notre Dame for graduation, I moved my workout to the morning so that I could have time in the afternoon to visit my man Dylan. I went over and Molly was on vacation, so I stopped at the front desk and tried to find someone else to take me to him. I asked the front desk and she asked well who are you here to see. I told her I was there to see Dylan. The look on her face worried me and what she said broke my heart. She told me Dylan had passed away last Thursday (May 7). I couldn't believe it. The guy that had brought me so much joy and done so much for me was no longer here. Cancer had taken his life. It is a cruel disease that knows no boundaries not even for an innocent little kid that loved Cars and didn't like basketball at all. I met with one of the other nurses that had grown close to Dylan and went to his funeral the day before. She said that he was great the day that he had died. He ate biscuits and gravy in the morning and she had brought him a happy meal for lunch because he loved the toy in it as any kid would. She talked about how late at night there were a couple of radiologists that would make his life brighter. They used to take him and race him in his wheelchair down the ramps outside of the hospital. They took him to the helicopter pad on night and even did an easter egg hunt with him. When they asked him about an easter egg hunt, he pulled the nurse in real close and said, "I can't walk." She replied you don't need to walk to be a kid and find eggs. You can hunt in your wheelchair. They said he really liked that. I just can't believe that he is really gone. This is my tribute to you Dylan. Thanks for touching my life and I will try to remember you as I move forward from here. I will remember your smile, but mostly your joy while going through the situation you were in. Thanks for being an inspiration to me.
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