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Mineral Ridge players show support for boy with leukemia
Mineral Ridge football players show support for ailing youth
By Dan Hiner
MINERAL RIDGE
Wednesday’s pass- ing scrimmage between Ursuline and Mineral Ridge seemed like any other. Coaches called plays, substitutions were made and players were excited to go up against another team.
But in the far left corner of the Mineral Ridge football field — just beyond the bleachers — were three chairs and a picture of a young boy with “Sean Strong” written in large, orange letters above the image of the boy.
That was where the Rams’ football players got their heads shaved to support Sean Reilly, a first grader at Seaborn Elementary School. The 7-year-old has Down syndrome and was diagnosed with leukemia on June 29.
Sean has been in Akron Children’s Hospital in Akron since shortly after his diagnosis and is receiving chemotherapy. Kevin and Amy Reilly, Sean’s parents, sat with their son while the players were getting their heads shaved.
The Reillys were unable to attend the event, but watched via Face Time.
“It was very emotional,” Amy Reilly said. “We were so happy that these teenaged boys would do such a wonderful gesture for Sean. It was very emotional, I couldn’t stop crying. My husband was the one sitting there holding the phone so Sean could see it. Sean was so excited.
“We were trying to explain to him to the best of our ability so he understands what these boys are doing for him. We also tried to explain to Sean that the type of chemotherapy he is on will make him lose his hair. That’s why these boys are doing this. [We told him] ‘They’re doing this for you because they love you and they want to see you at their first football game in the fall.’ ”
Mineral Ridge assistant coach Andrew Barker acted as one of the barbers during the scrimmage. Barker said the support the team has shown the Reilly family could have a positive impact on the community.
“You really forget the impact a high school football team has on a small town,” Barker said. “When the largest team in the school, the largest group of young men comes together saying, ‘We want to support Sean,’ then we want to do this as a community.
“The community wants to support this family, the schools want to support this family and the teachers want to support this family. It’s not one or two people. Everybody knows everybody. So the opportunity the kids have afforded the community to come out for him makes you real proud.”
Barker said the team has discussed placing a show of support on their uniforms this season, but no final decision has been made.
“The kids have talked about a tribute on the uniform somehow,” Barker said. “If he gets well enough to come down to a game, we’d love to have him down. Sean is always around — football, basketball and track. They’re big supporters of Ridge. Just to see him come down, I think it would do a lot of good for him and the team to see him.”
Amy Reilly was grateful for what the Rams’ players and coaches did.
“It’s very humbling. I sent a message to a lot of parents after we watched that,” she said. “Some of them I knew and some of them I don’t know, but I thanked them and don’t really know how to ever repay them for this.
“Just letting them know what their kids have done is something to be extremely proud of and how honored we are and blessed to have these people in our community. For them to do something like this is humbling to our family.”
Quarterback Mac White said the Rams wanted to show support for a young fan who has supported them.
“He’s a great kid,” White said. “He’s everywhere. You see him at the basketball games. His dad will have him on his shoulders. I felt like we needed to do something for him to make him feel like he’s not alone in his fight against cancer.”