High school all-stars playing in a weekend charity football game met and learned from patients of the children’s hospitals the game will benefit.
Shriners Children’s hosted a hospital experience event Friday to educate the players about the care the Chicago and St. Louis hospitals provide children ahead of the 51st annual Shrine Game. The charity football game will be hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University at 11 a.m. Saturday at Tucci Stadium in Bloomington.
Shriners Children’s provides care for children with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, cleft lip and palate and more.
On Friday, Shrine Game players and eight patients worked together to complete “Be Extraordinary” challenges during the event held at the Shirk Center. The challenges all showed certain sports-related physical difficulties patients at a children’s hospital may have.
Abbey Ross is a patient with cerebral palsy from Sycamore, west of Chicago. The 17-year-old has been dancing for the past 12 years, making her the perfect fit to lead players at the touchdown celebration station.
“I'm gonna teach them just to loosen up a little bit because they're football players, so usually they're very, like, tense and stuff,” said Ross.
Ross was diagnosed with cerebral palsy a week after she was born. She said she's been treated at Shriners since she was 5 and her favorite part of the Chicago hospital is how welcoming it is “and how everything feels like one big family.”
Jayden McDonald will play on defense for the red team at the game, and will face the blue team. McDonald is a former patient of the Shriners Hospital in Chicago, where he underwent physical therapy for a broken femur that could have ended his ability to play football.
“Just to get to play with the kids and learn ... from them is going to be an experience, and I'm just ready to have fun,” said McDonald, who will continue his football career at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
One challenge had athletes put oven mitts on both hands and then attempt to open a squeeze bottle, giving them a glimpse into what life is like for patients with limb disabilities.
“It's cool to just get the experience and see it from their point of view, and how everyday things that you're doing are like, I take for granted every day,” said Cade Danko, an incoming freshman wide receiver for Illinois Wesleyan. Danko graduated this spring from Tri-Valley High School, and will play for the red team.
Shriners also partners with Carle Health in Champaign-Urbana.
