Kansas City Chiefs Fan, 14, Battling Rare Form of Cancer Surprised with Super Bowl Tickets
This will be one game he’ll never forget!
Will Walker, a 14-year-old middle schooler from Missouri who’s been battling cancer for five years, got the surprise of a lifetime on Wednesday.
While attending what he assumed was just another school pep rally, Walker — who’s battling a rare form of cancer called synovial sarcoma, which typically affects young adults — was given a pair of Super Bowl tickets by the Kansas City Chiefs’ mascot, according to ABC News.
“My heart was pumping,” the teen, who’s a big fan of the team, told ABC News affiliate KQ2. “I’m really excited.”
The tickets were a gift from the Central Bank of the Midwest, a longtime partner of the Chiefs.
“Today we had the incredible honor of presenting Will Walker with two tickets to #SuperBowlLIV,” the bank wrote on Facebook, noting that it was the boy’s “dream” to see his team face off against the San Francisco 49ers in Miami on Sunday.
“We are so proud to be a part of his journey along with all of the community members who helped support getting him to the big game,” they added.
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“The community was already raising money for him to do the trip, so the tickets were the missing piece in the whole thing,” Will Carter, marketing manager for the bank, told ABC News of the surprise. “We wanted to do something really exciting for him.”
“Seeing his face yesterday and the kids’ support — there was probably 600 kids cheering — it just blew us backwards there was so much excitement in the auditorium. It was a really awesome moment,” he added.
In addition to the tickets, a fundraiser by the nonprofit group FAM — Fighting All Monsters, which helps support children facing life-threatening illnesses — raised over $26,000 to send Walker to the Super Bowl, with a significant contribution coming from Kansas City publication City Lifestyle Magazine, according to The Hour.
“It’s just a game … perhaps. Certainly there are more important things to worry about than the Super Bowl … but to a CHILD who goes to war every single day, with little hope of winning … it’s not JUST a game … It is a moment of normal. A once in a lifetime moment,” read a post from the nonprofit group.
The nonprofit went on to note that Walker, who recently “lost a limb to this cancer” had also learned that his body was no longer responding to chemotherapy, and that “his cancer is spreading at a rapid pace.”
Now that the tickets have been provided for, the over $26,000 that the fundraiser brought in can help to pay for other aspects of the trip as well as Walker’s medical bills, according to ABC News Missouri affiliate KQ2.
“I’m gonna love it it’s gonna be super exciting,” Walker told ABC News, adding of the Chiefs: “It’s gonna be amazing to see ’em play, and win.”
