By: Sean Quinn
If you like hope refer to the 2004 Boston Red Sox. If you like miracles refer to the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team. The miracle of hope, though, can’t be found in any sports arena or stadium. It can’t be found in any athlete or come from any performance-enhancing drug. The miracle of hope can only be found in blessed individuals. And no miracle has ever seen so much hope as in the heart and spirit of Hunter Kelly.Hunter Kelly, 8, son of former Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, died last week after a lifelong battle with Krabbe disease. The passing came just about eight years after Hunter was deemed terminal.
Krabbe, a rare, genetic, degenerative disease, destroys the white matter of the brain. Following Hunter’s birth, on Valentine’s Day and his father’s birthday in 1997, most children with Krabbe passed away before the age of 2. Hunter made it longer than most, but he couldn’t walk, talk, laugh or live normally. The dream Jim Kelly had of tossing a football with his son could never become a reality. Hunter could hardly move his head. He communicated with others only by blinking his eyes.
Living past age two is a miracle on itself, but Hunter did more than that. He did for millions of others what couldn’t be done for him. His foundation, Hunter’s Hope, has raised more than $4 million for Krabbe research. Screening tests now give some children the strength and gifts Hunter always hoped, but never had. Children can now be diagnosed early enough to benefit from a life-saving transplant that can allow them to live almost normal lives.
Never has someone so little done so much.
We should have expected this, though. After all, his father was a courageous quarterback with the heart of three linebackers.
We should have expected monumental hope in Buffalo. After all, the city of Buffalo never gives up hope. Four straight Super Bowl losses should have mutilated hope into hate, but the people act like the Bills have just won five straight Super Bowl Championships. The city never stops believing in miracles. Five months of pummeling snow should have the whole town relocating to Florida, but the people just slap on six layers of clothing and pray for one day of dry roads.
It’s people like Hunter, families like the Kelly’s and cities like Buffalo that make the sports world seem so far away. Tragedies and blessings like these puts life into perspective and sports on the back burner. Jim Kelly reminded us through Hunter that he is a normal guy. The same way Dan Marino reminded us athletes were human with his autistic son.
People like Terrell Owens, though, make us believe just the opposite. Some athletes are surely not heroes, not even regular people. Owens walked out of training camp over a couple of million dollars. Think of all the research and good that could come of just one paycheck from one game of T.O.’s already lucrative deal. This is not to say T.O. doesn’t donate to charities because he does. This is to shout that the major problem in T.O.’s life is nothing compared to that of the crisis the Kellys face each and every day.
The Kelly family reminded us who the true heroes are in today’s world. They aren’t the athletes that are featured on posters or cereal boxes. They are the people who sacrifice their lives for the opportunities to improve the quality of life for others.
Hunter Kelly couldn’t pick up a football his entire life. Terrell Owens has the strength to pick up a football and two linebackers at the same time. That’s not the only difference between them. Owens should be down on his knees counting his blessings every night, as should all of us. Because if Hunter Kelly had one day just to walk in our shoes, he would run.
5 replies on “Hunter Kelly provides hope and will remain a Hero”
Good start, but… I think the piece started off well, but the transition you made, as well as the parallels you try to draw, are ridiculous. You speak of off-field tragedy that has befallen Jim kelly and Dan Marino as making them seem human, which is unfair to compare to a contract dispute. Based on this logic, TO would only redeem himself if he had a kid with a terminal illness for whom he started raising money.
Be sure to research what you’re blasting the guy for… he may want more money on his own contract, but the guy DOES also give to charity (such as Alzheimer research)
http://www.theterrellowensfoundation.com/
Chill out Russian Bear Yes, T.O. donates to charities, as well he should. Hell I’m a college kid and I donate to charities. All I’m saying is that problems like T.O. and the sports world faces don’t nearly stack up to the heights of the tragedies some families face. And that T.O. is a coward and a villain right now in his attempts to renegotiate something he has already signed. The point is T.O.’s contract dispute might be a big issue to him, but it is nothing compared to the crisis of Hunter Kelly and his family.
Chilling as always First, that wasn’t a personal attack, I just think you mixed two completely unrelated stories. It’s very difficult to line a family tragedy on the same level as someone who, regardless of how greedy you might perceive him, is squabbling with management for more money. A fair comparison would compare Owens’ contractual demands with a player who took a pay cut so he could stay with his team, or someone who spurned a more lucrative deal for the same reasons.
I entirely agree with your point that tragedy, in whatever form it comes in, outweighs the trivial drama the sports media tends to focus on – but singling out one guy is an unfair comparison on a playing field that isn’t level.
Vote for me, money goes to charity We need to make this column win, b/c I’ll be donating $50 to Hunter’s Hope – a foundation into research for Krabbe – and $50 to the American Red Cross to help out the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Thanks!!!
i’ll go along with that 🙂