Randy York’s N-Sider
Last July 18 was an historical day for Nebraska football ... an
inspiring, moving and meaningful day for 47 Husker players who bonded to form
the nucleus of a new chapter for Uplifting Athletes, a national nonprofit
organization that aligns college football programs with rare diseases. Each
chapter chooses a rare disease and then elevates that disease to a national
priority through outreach, research, education and advocacy. Scott Shirley, the executive director
and chairman of Uplifting Athletes, said the Nebraska chapter is the most
advanced starting chapter in history because its launch on day one is
comparable to other chapters beginning year three.
When
Nebraska hosts Wisconsin Saturday night, All-Big Ten running back Rex Burkhead will receive the 2012 Rare
Disease Champion Award, the highest individual honor from Uplifting Athletes.
Burkhead earned the award after collecting 76,000 votes in a national online
poll. Last April, Shirley was in Lincoln to present the award at Nebraska’s
annual Spring Game. Heavy rains, however, postponed the ceremony, and somehow
the first Big Ten game of the Huskers’ 2012 season seems more relevant.
New
Chapter Elevating Spirits
Honoring
Burkhead five months later than originally planned also seems more timely
because Nebraska’s Uplifting Athletes chapter is already raising the bar for
the entire national organization. The NU chapter is elevating spirits, changing
lives, touching hearts and showing how character, structure and a strong belief
can redefine the word and refuel the verb. “This football team, led by Bo Pelini, has set the bar incredibly
high when it comes to service, leadership and societal impact,” said Keith Zimmer, Nebraska’s associate
athletic director for Life Skills. “Rex’s teammates have watched him develop a
close relationship with Jack Hoffman,
a 6-year-old boy with brain cancer. Little Jack inspires Rex and stirs the
spirit for virtually everyone who knows his story. That’s why our football team
formed an official chapter and decided to take on the very worthy cause of
pediatric brain cancer.”
Uplifting
Athletes and Team Jack are motivating players and influencing coaches, staff
members, fans and family members dealing with this deadly disease. When Jack’s
parents (Andy and Brianna Hoffman) learned that their son would be using
the same treatment protocol for pediatric brain cancer that’s been used for 25
years, they dedicated themselves to find ways to lift up these kids, raise
their cause to a higher priority and find a national platform to fund research.
Rex and Jack became that platform, and their tight relationship continues to
inspire and reinforce one compelling example after another. Here are several
ways that describe how Burkhead and Team Jack are influencing the Uplifting
Athletes organization and raising funds:
Little
Jack Won Rex’s Heart
Last December, at a pre-bowl
practice in Lincoln, Burkhead, a Nebraska captain, introduced Jack and his
family to his teammates and coaches, including Pelini, who asked Little Jack to
help break the team huddle for the day. Burkhead then hoisted his little buddy
in the air, so he could put his hands in the large huddle and start the closing
chant ... “1-2-3 ... Huskers!” Players who had worn Team Jack bracelets
most of the season celebrated their new hero with the same genuine affection
that Jack and his family celebrate them.
Team Jack is a support group
that includes his family, local residents in his hometown of Atkinson, Neb.,
and Husker football fans across the country and around the world. Through
private prayer and public acknowledgement of Jack’s courageous fight, both
Jack’s and his family’s spirits have been uplifted. Awareness of pediatric
brain cancer also has been heightened for 3,000 to 4,000 new patients diagnosed
with that often deadly disease each year.
Isaiah:
Jack’s New Buddy
One of those new patients is Isaiah Casillas, another 6-year-old kid
with brain cancer. Isaiah lives in McCook, Neb., and was diagnosed with the
disease in June. By mid-September, his doctor called Zimmer to see if Isaiah
might be able to meet a football player. Ironically, Zimmer already had
arranged an Arkansas State postgame ceremony for Jack to be honored by Salute
the Troops, a nonprofit, Kansas-based organization that wanted to make a
special presentation to Little Jack.
Zimmer didn’t hesitate to
invite Isaiah and his family to the same celebration for two reasons: 1) He
knew implicitly that Jack’s parents always have seen their cause in global
terms because the mission is to do everything humanly possible to help kids in
their fight with brain cancer; and 2) Sadly, Isaiah’s brain cancer is terminal
and everyone in his family, including Isaiah, knows his time left is only a
matter of months.
Terminal
Kid Uplifts Others
Here’s another bit of
irony: Zimmer, the Hoffman family and the Burkhead family discovered
another uplifting force that can touch human hearts everywhere. That would be none other than Isaiah Casillas,
the charismatic little 6-year-old who made an important celebration an even
bigger one and in the process, became another little buddy of Rex, Rex’s
parents, Jack and Jack’s parents.
Isaiah is spirited, animated
and perpetually smiling. He’s warm and friendly and
gives high-fives and low-fives. He took off his Nebraska cap so he could
share and compare surgical scars with Jack’s. When Gary McGirr, a Salute the Troops presenter from Topeka, Kan., gave
Jack several mementos as planned, he also gave Isaiah one, and both cancer
patients beamed almost simultaneously.
Burkhead’s
Mom Gets a Hug
Rick and Robyn Burkhead of Plano, Texas, are Rex’s parents, and they have
become just as close to the Hoffman family as their son has. They’ve marveled
how Andy and Bri Hoffman always remind them how Uplifting Athletes isn’t about
Jack. It’s about fighting a disease and uplifting everyone’s hopes, and if
Isaiah has any role in that double-barreled goal, let’s just say that he has
hope covered like a blanket.
“That whole experience with
Jack, Isaiah and Rex left me speechless,” said Robyn Burkhead, Rex’s mom. “It
was such an emotional afternoon that it’s hard to describe your feelings. I was
just so very proud of how my son is positively impacting the lives of others
and sharing his blessings with those around him. At the same time, I was
humbled and honored to be in the presence of two amazing children.”
Isaiah
Stole Some Hearts
“Little Isaiah stole my
heart!” Robyn said. “What a precious angel he is, giving and sharing himself
with everyone around him. You can tell that he’s never met a stranger, and he
loves unconditionally. He hugged everyone in the room, and what a special hug
it was. It’s one that I will treasure forever.”
Forever is a word most of us
have difficulty grasping, but Patrick Casillas, Isaiah’s dad, said his
6-year-old beacon of faith, hope and love understands the meaning of the word.
“He believes in eternity, and he’s helped his teachers and parents of his
classmates understand, too,” Patrick said. “He was the strongest baby and the
strongest kid you’ve ever seen. He was never sick. When we learned in early June that his brain cancer was 70 percent, we were shocked. Isaiah lost a grandpa
and two other family members unexpectedly, and McCook has rallied around him
because he’s so positive and inspirational. Even when he’s sick, he wants to be
in school. Our doctors in Denver are amazed. Isaiah’s cancer is terminal, but
it did not grow from his last checkup, so they’re trying some new treatments to
extend his life. He’s an amazing kid, and he absolutely loved getting the
chance to meet Rex and Little Jack.”
Little Isaiah not only stole
Robyn Burkhead’s heart, but Rick Burkhead’s as well. “I didn’t see a dry eye in
the room,” Rex’s dad said. The experience followed a game day when a still
injured Rex did not play a down, but he may have made the biggest plays he’s
ever made, connecting with a pair of 6-year-old cancer patients at the same
time. “I get more enjoyment watching Rex off the football field as a selfless,
positive role model, and I’m proud of him for being such a good person,” said
Rick Burkhead, a football father who loves game action but has an even keener
appreciation for faith in action.
The Salute the Troops
presentation to Little Jack included a personal letter from an Army helicopter
pilot who has flown combat missions in at least seven countries with an
American flag, a Rex Burkhead #22 jersey and several special patches as his
salute to
Jack Inspires Combat Pilot
Team Jack. Mike Eckhardt is the pilot who lives in
North Carolina. He’s a Husker fan who read about Team Jack on Huskers.com. Eckhardt says he’s so inspired by Jack’s
bravery and his courage that he wanted Jack “to know that you are my hero.”
There’s one more military
veteran who feels the same way. John
Lehning, 77 and a 25-year veteran of the Air Force, drove from Omaha to
watch McGirr salute Little Jack. Lehning stood up, impromptu, and told a small
room how he’d gone through 75 radiation treatments for extensive throat cancer.
“This is the God’s truth,” he said. “Since 60 percent of the people going
through the protocol that I was taking don’t finish it, I was feeling sorry for
myself one day. Then I saw Rex and Jack holding hands on TV. Once I saw that
clip on television, I felt just like that helicopter pilot did. I felt a big
boost of energy and on Dec. 7th, I was cleared of cancer.”
Brown Connects the Dots
Nebraska running backs coach Ron Brown hears the series of uplifting
stories and does his best to connect the
dots. “Scripture tells us how God allows us to go through trials so we can
receive his comfort and then pass that comfort on to someone else,” Brown said.
“Rex Burkhead has great faith in his Lord, Jesus Christ, and it’s helped him
handle the ups and downs in his own life. He’s experienced the trials and made
the sacrifices in his own journey. For Rex to have the capacity to take God’s
love into his own heart and then pour it out onto that young boy, and then have
that young boy become an inspiration for a pilot doing battle against worldwide
terrorism ... well, that says everything. It’s the connective process that
takes place. It’s the enrichment of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
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