CHAPTER 92

I rested on the sofa for a while, ate a late lunch , then called Alexis at her office. She was in a meeting, so I left a message with her secretary telling her what time I was going to the hospital, to please call if she still was interested in going. I was about to leave the condo, it was close to four thirty, when Alexis returned my call.

"Hey, I just got free, I'm on my way there, wait for me, I would love to go with you.", she said.

"Ok, no problem.", I replied.

Alexis knocked on my door a little before five thirty, she had already been home and changed. She was wearing tight jeans, a tank top and black high heeled boots. She really looked good, but then again, she always did. Since she had just driven clear across town from her office, I offered to drive to the hospital, she readily accepted. We arrived at the hospital shortly after six, I parked in the lot and grabbed my small duffel bag, and escorted Alexis across the street into the hospital. We rode the elevator up to the fourth floor, then made our way down to the nurse's station. I immediately recognized the young blonde nurse from my previous visit, she smiled and walked over to us.

"How's he feeling today ?", I asked.

"Pretty good, he is getting stronger every day, he only has two treatments left, then he can go home.", she answered, "You can go on in."

"Thanks.", I responded.

We walked down to the end of the hall, I gently knocked on the door and pushed it open. He immediately turned his head towards me, a huge smile crossing his face. He pushed himself up on the stack of pillows he was lying against, adjusting his blankets.

"How's my number one fan today.", I asked.

"I'm doing good Brian.", he answered.

"Bryan, this is my friend Alexis, she wanted to come meet you too.", I said, introducing her.

"Hi Bryan, its very nice to meet you.", Alexis told the young boy, shaking his hand gently.

We both sat down in the two chairs that were available next to the bed, I set the bag down next to my feet. He was still dressed in his hospital gown with his blue knit stocking cap on his head. I could sense he was kinda nervous, maybe it was because Alexis was there. I decided to try and break the ice a bit. I reached down into the bag and pulled out the team skull cap, in light powder blue, with the team logo on the front of it. I held it up in front of him, so he could see exactly what it is.

"Bryan, since you're my number one fan, you can't keep wearing that cap you have on, you have to wear mine.", I said, handing him the stocking cap.

"This is yours ?", he asked, in amazement.

"Yep, it is.", I answered.

He quickly pulled off the old blue knit cap and tossed it on the bed. As I had suspected, he had very little hair on his head, I had heard treatments could be brutal. Suddenly he realized that he had exposed himself for the first time to strangers, he quickly tried to pull the stocking cap I gave him onto his head.

"Here, let me help you buddy.", I said, adjusting the tight cap so that the team logo was directly in the front middle of his head.

I reached down in the bag again, pulling out a pair of receiving gloves, again in team colors, opening the package and handing them to him.

"Now you have to put the gloves on.", I told him.

"Whoaaaaa, I get gloves too.", he asked, his eyes wide and bright.

"Yes sir. All receivers wear gloves now, that's the exact pair, I wear.", I responded.

He was comical as he tried to manuever his small hands into the really large gloves. With some help from Alexis, he finally managed to get them on, then pull the Velcro strap as tight as he could. Just at that time, both of his parents came into the room.

"Mom, Dad, look what Brian brought me.", he shouted, holding up his hands, then touching his head, "This is the stuff he wears in the games."

"Oh my goodness, what a gift.", his mother said, leaning over, kissing him gently on the cheek.

I introduced both of his parents to Alexis, they received her warmly, thanking her as well for taking the time to stop by. They both moved to the sofa against the other wall and sat down, it looked as though they had a rough day. I couldn't imagine what it must be like to see your small child battling such a tough disease. Finally the young child brought us all back to reality.

"Hey Bryan, I knew you would catch a touchdown for me.", he said, very matter of factly.

"Oh you did. Well I tell ya what buddy, I got really lucky on that one.", I replied with a laugh.

"Nah, I knew you had it all the time.", he laughed.

We talked for a little while more, then Bryan's father asked if he could speak to me outside for a moment. I got up and followed the tired man outside into the hallway, he leaned his weight against the wall, life was beating him down.

"I want to personally thank you for everything you have done for my son. It's good to see that infectious smile on his face again. We just found out today, it appears he is in remission for time being, we are so relieved.", he said.

"That's great sir, I am so happy to hear that.", I replied.

"It's just in time too, I have missed entirely too much work, we have used our entire savings so one of us could always be here with him. I have medical insurance, but it just doesn't cover the intangibles. And we are blessed, we live only two hours from here. I can't imagine other families that have to rent apartments so they can be near their children.", he added.

He went on to tell me about other parents he had met since Bryan had been coming here, people who had suffered unbearable financial hardships, just trying to keep their child alive. We finally heard the little boy yell for us to come back in the room. The boy's father wiped the tears from his eyes, took a deep breath then led me back into the room. I walked abck over to the chair where I had been sitting, leaned over and picked up the bag. Vistor's hours were over in ten minutes, except for immediate family, I prepared to leave.

"Bryan, before I go, I have one more thing to give you.", I said.

"What's that ?", he chirped up, another wide grin on his face.

I reached into the bag and fished out the brown leather ball, holding it out to him.

"This is the ball I caught at the end of the game, it has not been out of my sight since the touchdown. I want you to have it.", I said.

He quickly snatched the ball from my grasp, like he thought I might change my mind.

"Oh no Brian, he can't accept that, that's entirely too much. That ball is a part of history, it belongs with you, for your son one day. Please take it back.", his mother said, standing over him asking for the ball.

"The ball is where it belongs Mrs. Butler, besides, I can't take it back, it's already personalized.", I replied, "See there."

Bryan turned the ball slowly, finally to the panel that I had carefully and neated inscribed. She began to read it out loud.

"THE CATCH - SAN DIEGO 17 KANSAS CITY 16"

TO MY FIRST REAL FAN - BRYAN BUTLER

WHO TAUGHT ME WHAT THE WORD COURAGE AND WARRIOR MEAN

She hesitated a bit, then looked up at me, tears in her eyes. She simply mouthed the words "Thank You", to me, I smiled at her in return. I extended my hand to my little friend, who shook it quickly, clutching the ball in his other.

"I'll be back again buddy, if you check out before then, your Dad has my cell number, call me.", I said, softly.

Alexis reached over and shook the boy's hand as well, telling him how nice it was to meet him, especially since he was my biggest fan. As we turned to walk out of the room, I heard Bryan's voice over my shoulder.

"Hey Brian, is Alexis your girlfriend ?", as only a niave child could ask.

"Bryan, that's not the kind of question you ask someone son.", Mrs. Butler quickly said cutting him off.

I looked over at Alexis, I could see she was slightly taken back by the question. I looked back at my new friend.

"Alexis is my agent, Bryan. She handles all of my business deals, and yes she is a very good friend, but she is not my girl friend.", I answered, with a smile.

"That's too bad, she is very, very pretty.", he answered.

On the ride back, Alexis couldn't restrain of talking about my little friend, what heart and spirit he had. She told me she completely understood what had attracted me to him in the first place. I went on to tell her about the discussion I had with his father in the hall, about the financial strains that these situations put the families in. As we got closer to the condo's, Alexis suggested we grab a bite to eat, since neither of us had eaten yet. We stopped at a small Chinese Restaurant near our condo, grabbed some takeout, then went back to my place and ate. Over dinner, Alexis metioned that since I had enjoyed spending so much time with Bryan, perhaps I should think of starting a foundation to help families of kids suffering from different forms of cancer.

As she explained, the foundation could help families with the expenses that their regular medical insurance just didn't pay for. It seemed like a great idea, I asked her if she would be willing to point me in the right direction to perhaps get something like that started. She promised me she would look into it, then get back to me.

We hit the midway mark through the season, we were 7-1 and sitting atop our divison. Things were going extremely well with one exception, the injuries were starting to mount up. We had already lost two starters for the season, with several other being listed as day to day.

We went on a two game road trip, splitting the two games, one win , one loss. We now at 9-2, five games left to play, with us holding a two game lead in the division. Every game would now be critical, home field advantage was critical in the playoffs.