I promise this will be the last tear jerking blog this week. There is an 18 yr old year old man named John Challis. He is from Freedom H.S in PA. This young man has been reduced to 5'5" and 93 lbs. He has terminal lung and liver cancer. He has much more than that, he has heart. That is something his cancer can't take, not now nor within the next two months he has left to live. I don't know if you've heard the story, but this young man was able to participate in a varsity football game. He also just recently had the opportunity play in a varsity baseball game. What did he do? He went 1-2. What is his response to all of the attention he is getting lately? This isn't about me, it's about getting the word out that life is not how many breaths you have, it's about what you do with them. I can't compete with that. I also can't compete with the pitcher from the other team who threw him his best fastball, John didn't want to receive a favor. He wanted to see the best that the pitcher had. A line drive RBI single later. The pitcher dropped his glove on the mound and clapped his hands. His teammates raced onto the field and jumped around in joy for their soon to be fallen teammate. This makes me wonder how in this world do 17 and 18yr old boys/men have so much more wherewithal to know when they are witnessing history, and yet they take the time to celebrate it.
John's coach had said that he thinks about John every day. The baseball season is over, but the coach is going to be married this summer. John walked into his coach's office, and said that he was looking forward to his wedding. He asked his coach to save him a seat in the front row. If he can't be there in person, he most certainly will be there in spirit.
When I grow up. I most certainly want to be like John Challis.
Ahhh....the beauty of something no one has any control over.
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