Out of Bounds - Quick Snap

What made it amazing for me, though, was how much it meant to the kids and their parents. They deserved it!

An eleven-year-old called Liberty had caught my attention. She was losing her fight with leukemia quickly and reminded me of the friend I’d lost. She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, and the injustice of a child who had their whole lives ahead of them dying from the disease was overwhelming. When the guys came in to join us, they all sat down and spoke to her like they’d known her their whole lives.

After they put their pile of goodies at the end of her bed, Kip asked her what she wanted most in life. Her answer was, “For my parents to not be sad when I go. I want them to enjoy life and remember me, but not to cry because I’ll always be there with them.”

Then she’d asked the players if they’d wear a glitter arm band with every color possible on it for her during a game to raise awareness of the disease. I’d offered to make the bands for her, so I was going to bring some in for her to hand out in a couple of days.

Not one of us had been able to hold back the tears, and those men had agreed without even needing to think about it.

“Do you think we could hold a fundraiser?” I asked them quietly as we left Liberty’s room. “Like, what if we sold the bands at games and the funds went to supporting young leukemia patients and their families?”

“We do that for some other things,” Will mused, and then leaned against the wall to write an email on his phone to the team’s manager and their PR representative. “I’ll forward the email onto the rest of the team and ask them to put their names on it when they send it in to them, too. The more pressure we apply, the more successful it’ll be.”

A small hand gripped mine tightly, and when I turned around, Meg was staring at me with tears in her eyes. “Thank you.”

Shrugging, I looked around and saw the men looking at me with respect. “I’m always available to make bands and items that can be sold to raise money for the kids. Just shout and it’s done.”

Three sets of arms wrapped around me creating a really awkward huddle in the hallway of the hospital, with me in the center sitting in my wheelchair, trying to find a gap in the arms to breathe. I’d almost succeeded when the rest of the guys decided to join in and squeeze us all as hard as they could.

Given the height I was at in my chair, this made it slightly awkward. Which of course I pointed out to them all.“Are you sure they’re okay with us using this wheelchair outside the hospital?” I asked nervously as Kip pushed me behind the group of football players making their way through the throng of people walking around us.

I’d asked him this question at least five times, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to be arrested for theft of a hospital vehicle or device or whatever it was called. He could get away with his name, but I couldn’t even run from the police if I wanted to right now.

“Yes,” he snickered as he jerked it around a little kid who was throwing a tantrum. “You were there when we signed it out and agreed to have it back by six.”

Then we stopped in front of the last place I’d have expected him to go to, but the one that I wanted to go to the most—Seattle Aquarium. We’d driven behind the others after we left the hospital, and not being that familiar with the area, I’d assumed we’d go to Starbucks or Pike Place Market. But this…

“Oh, my God,” I squealed, clapping my hands excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to come here.”

Stopping behind the others who were getting tickets, he replied smugly, “I know, Hayden told me.”

“When we heard where he was taking you, we all decided to come,” Will said over his shoulder. “Training’s on hold this week because of the flu taking out a few of us.”

“Including Coach,” one of the others called Stan added with a grin. “Bet he’s loving that.”

“Right?” Will nodded. “Anyway, we’re bored and want to bug Kip, so consider us your new besties.”

Bursting out laughing, I waited eagerly for us to move forward into the Aquarium. I loved going to places like this.

When I was a kid, it’d been my dream to become a marine researcher and do deep dives in the Mariana Trench. I’d watched James Cameron dive down to the Titanic and had decided there and then that it’s what I’d do. Obviously I’d messed that dream up seeing as how I didn’t end up doing that with my life, so aquariums were the next best thing for me.