My daughter was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis in 1993. Due to prayers and medical technology and care, we are celebrating her 10 year anniversary of a double lung transplant which saved her life. But in some small way, Pitt basketball was also involved in this story....
Anyone who has had a child (or loved one) with a chronic long term serious illness, knows that spending endless hours at a hospital can be a life and hope draining experience. When my daughter was young and needed to spend weeks in the hospital due to a flare-up, things like Disney movies, toys, games, etc provided some distraction from the cadence of IVs, meds, monitors, tests and the like.
However when she became a teenager, it was harder to make these hospital visits (my daughter used to kiddingly refer to them as going to the "resort") somewhat "pleasant". It was about this time that Ben and Jamie brought the Pitt basketball program to life.
In March of 2008, we were in the midst of another 3 week stay. Even through she was post-transplant, there were still conditions where she needed to be hospitalized to fight off any sign of possible rejection. In this instance, the doctors felt she would likely go home on Friday and as any teenager, she had plenty of plans with friends to catch up on the two weeks of social life she had missed. So she very distraught when Friday afternoon, they told her she needed to spend "one more weekend" at the clinic for additional IV treatments and could go home on Monday. At this point, there really isn't a lot one can say to make someone feel better but the first thing that (idiotically) leapt from my mouth was "well, hey we can watch Pitt tonight play in the BE tourney semis". The glare I immediately received from my daughter could have melted the ice on Mars.
However as the day wore on, she started to get more interested in how we could have a Pitt party and the nurses (even though we were in Columbus) started to get involved with planning some festivities around ice cream and the like. And Pitt came through with a win setting up a Championship game the next night with Georgetown.
The next day then was filled with watching other games and anticipating how Pitt would do given they had been soundly defeated the previous year. And once again, we celebrated when Pitt won the BE final getting revenge over the Hokies. This setup discussion of where Pitt would end being placed on Sunday culminating with the Selection Sunday show which rewarded Pitt with a 4 seed (although some of us thought it should have been higher
Now it's true that sports can't cure cancer or CF or get someone a job or put a meal on the table. But there are times when it can bridge generation gaps between grandchildren and grandparents and perhaps help get a sick child through another endless weekend in the hospital. For that, I will always be thankful to Ben and Jamie and the enjoyment they helped provided to me and my daughter.
Anyone who has had a child (or loved one) with a chronic long term serious illness, knows that spending endless hours at a hospital can be a life and hope draining experience. When my daughter was young and needed to spend weeks in the hospital due to a flare-up, things like Disney movies, toys, games, etc provided some distraction from the cadence of IVs, meds, monitors, tests and the like.
However when she became a teenager, it was harder to make these hospital visits (my daughter used to kiddingly refer to them as going to the "resort") somewhat "pleasant". It was about this time that Ben and Jamie brought the Pitt basketball program to life.
In March of 2008, we were in the midst of another 3 week stay. Even through she was post-transplant, there were still conditions where she needed to be hospitalized to fight off any sign of possible rejection. In this instance, the doctors felt she would likely go home on Friday and as any teenager, she had plenty of plans with friends to catch up on the two weeks of social life she had missed. So she very distraught when Friday afternoon, they told her she needed to spend "one more weekend" at the clinic for additional IV treatments and could go home on Monday. At this point, there really isn't a lot one can say to make someone feel better but the first thing that (idiotically) leapt from my mouth was "well, hey we can watch Pitt tonight play in the BE tourney semis". The glare I immediately received from my daughter could have melted the ice on Mars.
However as the day wore on, she started to get more interested in how we could have a Pitt party and the nurses (even though we were in Columbus) started to get involved with planning some festivities around ice cream and the like. And Pitt came through with a win setting up a Championship game the next night with Georgetown.
The next day then was filled with watching other games and anticipating how Pitt would do given they had been soundly defeated the previous year. And once again, we celebrated when Pitt won the BE final getting revenge over the Hokies. This setup discussion of where Pitt would end being placed on Sunday culminating with the Selection Sunday show which rewarded Pitt with a 4 seed (although some of us thought it should have been higher
Now it's true that sports can't cure cancer or CF or get someone a job or put a meal on the table. But there are times when it can bridge generation gaps between grandchildren and grandparents and perhaps help get a sick child through another endless weekend in the hospital. For that, I will always be thankful to Ben and Jamie and the enjoyment they helped provided to me and my daughter.
