This is a thank you letter to the baseball program of Mississippi State. I have wanted to write this letter for many years. Andrew was diagnosed on June 2, 2014 and ever since that day we have been overwhelmed by the support that so many strangers have given to him and us. We have also been touched by being introduced to a world of “cancer children supporters” from so many organizations and people. We thank them all. All of the major Universities have made at least one trip to Batson Hospital over the past five years. Coaches have visited when the teams themselves did not. These visits are not their responsibility and I have no intention of comparing how much this school or that school visited. They all go beyond the call of duty and every alum of every school ought to be proud. However, MS State has been different in general and the baseball team particularly. Coach Dan Mullen brought seemingly the entire team every year and they spent extensive time playing and visiting with the kids. These were special times that went beyond the normal visits. But that baseball team! It is hard to put it into words. They visited like others did in the normal and special way that athletes and childhood heroes do. But over the years through different coaches and players there would be something different that would happen. Individual players would become invested in a child. From that player the coaches and other players would become invested. They would follow the progress of the child. They would get to know the parents and spend extra time and pay personal visits to the child. So much so that some would even become pallbearers for the children that we’ve lost. These relationships would become far more than a hero giving some personal time. They were heroes who would become friends.
 |
| Campbell and Wes Rae |
 |
| Andrew and Wes Rea |
Prior to entering the world of childhood cancer I had no idea how important the time that athletes, celebrities, and others who visit these children could be for the child. I have seen the human interest stories like these in the news and ESPN for years and have always been moved by them but have never fully appreciated the impact. When a child begins the fight against cancer they enter a world that has no connection to normal childhood. Depending on the type of cancer, they will become completely isolated from the activities of normal life. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter how hard everyone works to let the child still be a child, it is an impossible task. They don’t get to truly play sports or go to school to be with their friends. They don’t get to experience life in the way children normally do. So, these relationships that MS State baseball players have established over the years allowed kids to experience their dreams. I watched this first with Campbell Dale. I’ve intentionally shared a picture of Wes Rea and Campbell first in this letter to demonstrate how this attitude of the Diamond Dawgs has been broader and bigger than any one child, player, or coach. Plus, the picture of the two of them captures I believe the the true depth of the impact. You can almost feel the love between the two coming through the picture. As parents of other patients, we too would be inspired and encouraged by the care and attention that the players were giving to Campbell and his family. You can see the absolute joy and love experienced by them both. This is just the way it is and it is why Campbell’s dad and I have said for years about the baseball team, “They just get it. They just get it.”
 |
| Coach Lemonis and Jake Mangum Letters |
In Andrew’s case, the relationships that have developed have been unexpected and perfectly timed. Andrew’s first birthday after being diagnosed (5 yrs ago) he was receiving birthday cards from people from all over. We received a FedEx package and it was a game worn MS State baseball jersey. Long story short, it was from the former Bulldog catcher Ed Easley. He had heard of Andrew through a childhood friend of mine and he sent Andrew one of his personal jerseys from college. Later on Andrew would get a tour of the old facilities and throw out the first pitch against that school from up north. Yes, he threw a strike! Andrew relapsed with leukemia in April 2018. His condition required a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) in July 2018. The nature of a BMT is that the patient has to be completely isolated from the world for a significant amount of time and for an even longer time they have to live under great restrictions in their daily life. Andrew was a complete stranger to MS State’s new coach and their star player the summer of 2018. Nonetheless, through the efforts of yet another stranger with baseball ties in the State of MS the word was passed along to the team that there was a leukemia patient who loved baseball and MS State and was having a BMT. Then Coach Lemonis and Jake Mangum proceeded to write long handwritten letters of encouragement for Andrew. They sent those letters along with some good baseball team swag! It was at a time when Andrew was physically suffering at a level that he had yet to experience throughout all of his previous 4 years of chemo therapy and radiation. The joy and pride he experienced the day he received their package was a game changer for him. They promised him a tour of the New Dudy Noble Stadium once he was healthy. He felt included and cared for but most of all he felt connected. He could not go to a ballgame of any kind because of his condition. He knew he wouldn’t be able to go to a ballgame of any kind for a long time. So, he felt connected as he looked forward to the next baseball season when he’d be able to suit up again. It was all he could talk about while he was isolated from school, family, and friends. He would say, “but when spring comes I will at least be able to dress out with the team. I will also be able to go see Jake and the new stadium." Spring has come and Andrew can not dress out with his team nor go see Jake and the new stadium. His life was almost lost in January and he has been in the hospital under modified isolation since January 22, 2019. The week prior to being admitted to the hospital with respiratory complications he finally got to meet Jake Magnum at a church event. Jake showed up with even more personal gifts for Andrew. But more than that, Jake came as one who seemed to already love this boy he had never met. He spoke of the players and coaches from the team praying for Andrew on a regular basis. He talked to Andrew and not at or around Andrew. He spoke with Andrew in such way that it was as if they were the only two in the room. He told Andrew in front of all the people in attendance that Andrew was his hero. The thing about it is that Jake allowed his heart to be so exposed and vulnerable that everyone in that place believed that Jake meant every word of it. And most of all, Andrew believed it. The rest in some ways is just history. Jake is now simply apart of Andrew’s life. But it doesn’t stop with Jake.
 |
| 2019 Signed Team Ball |
 |
| Being Cole in the Back Yard |
The rest of the story is that what we took as a young man’s exaggeration from Jake about the team praying for Andrew turned out to be true. After days turned into weeks of Andrew being in critical condition the connections with other players grew. A signed baseball showed up for Andrew. This time it wasn’t arranged by Jake but by Cole Gordon. Little did Cole know at the time that he had already impacted Andrew through a State scrimmage game at the old Smith-Wills stadium in Jackson that Coach Cohen put together to raise money for Blair Batson. Andrew would wear a bandanna while playing in the back yard after that day. Other players took time to sit and talk with all the patients and parents that came out that day. Assistant Coach Butch Thompson spent a lot of time talking with the parents. Connections have continued to grow through social media. Even player’s mothers have gotten in on the act. Well, the baseball season has begun and Andrew is still in the hospital and unable to walk. But he is able to watch every game through ROKU. He feels connected. It is the one thing that makes him feel like he is apart of something. Apart of a team. Players have said that they were playing for him and he believes them. He feels it. So, he wanted to give them Team Andrew bracelets so we got them delivered. Jake couldn’t meet to receive them so Elijah MacNamee came out to meet me. I began to explain to him who Andrew was and he simply stopped me in mid-sentence and looked me in the eye and said, “I know who your son is.” That was a moment that pierced this daddy to the bone. I returned to my car and broken down like a little child.
Andrew now can see his bracelets out on the Dudy Noble field and he feels even more connected. He feels like he belongs on that field. That he is hitting and striking out. That he is winning and losing too. That he has a hot hand and a cold streak. He speaks of the players like he is talking about a friend. He feels for a brief moment like he is still living!
He has a long recovery ahead of him with intensive therapy to get him back walking again. He now has focused his goal on getting out of the hospital and going first thing to see “his teammates” at Dudy Noble field.
 |
| Campbell Dale |
GO DAWGS! Never doubt the impact that you have on the kids who watch you and those who you invest your lives into. And before every practice and game you remember one thing....on that day, you get to play baseball. So, Your #ChemoWarrior says to #KeepGrindin cause he is!
 |
| Andrew's First Pitch against the Team up North |
Thank you,
@TeamAndrew4110
