Saturday, November 28, 2009
AKRON (AP) — A young cancer patient has been named the 19th player on the University of Akron softball team.
Coach Julie Jones says 12-year-old Olivia Ward has a locker and a uniform and “helps to make us better people. ... When you have better people you have a better team.”
The team and Olivia met at a Halloween party, have had a movie night at Jones’ house and plan to get together for a holiday dinner.
The players support Olivia in other ways too, and will be at a Monday auction to benefit pediatric oncology patients in Northeast Ohio. Olivia has had three surgeries to remove brain tumors since her 2002 diagnosis.
Jones says she was put in touch with Olivia through a group that matches college sports teams with pediatric brain-tumor patients.
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