For one Kansas City Royals fan, Wednesday night’s Game 2 World Series victory over the San Francisco Giants was just “icing on the cake.”
Noah Wilson, a 6-year-old die-hard Royals fan from Olathe, Kansas, has been battling a rare form of cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma since April.
Noah has undergone numerous rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, surgeries and hospital stays at Children’s Mercy Hospital to treat the cancer, which is in his spine.
As Noah recovered in his hospital bed, he watched his favorite team as they fought a battle of their own to make it to the World Series for the first time in 29 years.
“We’d watch games in his bed, because we had nothing else to do,” Scott Wilson, Noah’s dad told The Kansas City Star.
“We’d just sit there and cheer, and he’d watch the whole thing, even when it went into 12, 13 innings,” Scott said.
Ryan Zimmerman, the Wilson family’s neighbor, saw a video Scott posted of Noah reciting the lineup from his hospital bed and launched a viral campaign to get Noah to the World Series.
“He goes into the hospital after for chemo, and his dad posted a video to Facebook of Noah doing the starting lineups. I was talking to his parents and I said, ‘I gotta get you tickets.’ Obviously it’s a huge deal and I’m going to make it happen,” Zimmerman told Fox Sports.
And so an Internet campaign was born. Zimmerman’s GoFundMe page raised more than $11,000 and Noah’s story reached thousands. Even former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre answered the call, inviting the Wilson family to be his personal guests at Game 2. StubHub donated an additional seven free tickets that were given to other sick children, The Star reported.
In the days leading up to the game the Wilson family received care packages from Major League Baseball, and were invited to a gala at the stadium, according to the report.
But come Wednesday, it wasn’t all smiles. Earlier in the day Noah complained of a stomach ache to his mother, and he felt warm, which could have signaled a possible fever. If his temperature reaches or exceeds 101.5, Noah has to be rushed to the hospital within an hour, according to the newspaper.
“There’s always panic now,” Deb Wilson told The Kansas City Star.
But Noah recovered and the Wilsons were able to make the journey to Kauffman Stadium for the big game – even snagging a personal meet and greet with Torre before the game.
“I’m so grateful for everyone’s generosity and support for our family,” Deb told The Star. “This has been one of the most humbling experiences I can remember.”
“Lots of people around were giving him high fives and fist bumps,” Scott told the newspaper. “Several people recognized him and were calling his name so he was having a blast,” he said.
And for the Wilsons, the Royals’ 7-2 victory over the Giants was “icing on the cake,” Scott told The Star.
Noah headed back to the hospital Thursday to begin another round of treatment, but for one night, Scott told the newspaper, “we could just focus on each other, and the fun, and the energy in that building.”
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