Softball team, community rallies behind 10-year-old teammate with terminal cancer
An Ohio softball team is stepping up to the plate to support their teammate after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Ten-year-old has DIPG. Just eight days ago, Slack was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.
Soon after, her softball teammates were at the hospital doing whatever they could to support their friend. Then an idea struck to make Monday's season home opener one to remember.
“It was a shock to everyone's system here,” said Garyn Waits, the head coach of the Lynchburg Clay Girls Softball Team.
The preseason for the team looked different this year. Team bonding wasn't spent at the mall or on the mound, it was spent at the hospital at the bedside of their teammate.
Doctors say Slack has less than a year to live.
“She is the kindest person I know and the greatest friend,” said her teammate Livy Waits. “She's a goofball.”
The team was determined to make their home opener and Slack’s last game before treatment one to remember.
“We’re going to treat it as a varsity game,” Waits said.
The game was originally supposed to be played on the road an hour away in New Richmond, Ohio. But Waits asked if the opposing team would mind if they played at home.
“I can't explain how important it is for us adults to put on the show for her and allow her to experience everything that she can get out of it,” Waits said.
“To me, it's not about the game,” said Michael Trummer, head coach of 9U Felicity Diamond Does. “It's about this little girl having the time of her life.”