Tweet
This is a Great Article
"I made it!" Mama Kay said Sunday night.
And she gave Dwight Howard a hug – a hard, happy hug.
Mama Kay's real name is Kay Kellogg. You might remember her from this column. She is 62, dying of cancer and had just a single item on her bucket list. Her one dying wish was to meet her hero, Dwight, before she passed away.
Dwight found out about it and visited her home a few weeks ago. He was scheduled to stay for 30 minutes, but ended up staying a couple of hours because the two fast friends talked and laughed so much that they lost track of time.
Click here for your chance to win free groceries for a year!
It was love at first Dwight.
Dwight started calling her "Mama Kay" and, amazingly, he did something chemo could never do: He made her feel good again.
"He has become my 7-foot-tall bottle of medicine," she said then.
But before Dwight left her home that day a few weeks ago, she told him to say a prayer for her so that she could live long enough to see him play the first game in the new arena Sunday night. You see, she has been diagnosed with the advanced stages of Multiple Myeloma, an inoperable, incurable form of cancer that destroys the blood plasma in the bone marrow. She was given only a month or two to live.
Well, guess who was in the brand new Amway Center Sunday night, sitting there courtside courtesy of the Magic. wearing her favorite No. 12 Dwight Howard jersey and rooting her team on to a 54-point victory over the New Orleans Hornets? Mama Kay, that's who. And you should have seen the look on Dwight's face when he saw her.
``She told me, `I made it!' '' Howard said with a joyful smile splashed across his face. "She was just so excited to be here and I was just so excited to see her.''
This is why sports have always been so amazing to me – because they have the extraordinary power and potential to pull people together. Doesn't matter if you're black or white, Republican or Democrat, Christian or Muslim, Gator or Seminole – everybody comes together at a Magic game and roots for the same team.
I've written it before and I'll reiterate it here: The sports world, perhaps more than any other part of our everyday lives, truly is color blind. Mostly white fans will fill an arena to cheer for mostly black basketball players. Peyton Manning, a white quarterback, loves to throw the football to Reggie Wayne, a black wide receiver. Magic forward Mickael Pietrus, a black man from Guadeloupe, is great friends with center Marcin Gortat, a white man from Poland.
"In the NBA, you see teams made up of players from every country and every race, and we all get along," Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers once told me when he coached the Magic. "We're a pretty good model for all walks of life."
What's it tell you when Dwight Howard, a young, incredibly healthy black man, is inspired by Kay Kellogg, an older, incredibly sick white woman – and vice versa?
Kay's entire body is in excruciating pain, but on Sunday night she was smiling and clapping and cheering at every point Dwight scored and every rebound he pulled down.
She cried on the way to the arena as she reflected back on all the good times Dwight and the Magic have provided her over the years.
"I was just so excited, I started to tear up," she said. "I was thinking about all the times I've watched Dwight and how happy he makes me feel. I just love him and the Magic so much."
The thing is, he was supposed to inspire her but she has ended up inspiring him. He sees how she is facing her death and it makes him want to make the most of his life. She is not depressed. She is not bitter. She just talks about how lucky she is to have lived such a wonderfully full life.
"She's just a blessing," Dwight says. "She's just overwhelmed with joy every time she comes to a Magic game. … We take life for granted sometimes. One thing I learned from her is that she makes the most of every breath she takes. We all need to be like that."
At the preseason opener Sunday night, Dwight presented his new best friend with an autographed pair of his size 18 adidas sneakers with the words "Mama Kay" stitched into them. Dwight will wear a similar pair of Mama Kays when the real season begins.
She thanked him for everything when he came to her seat Sunday night and then said something that took him a little by surprise.
"I made it to opening night," she said. "I can go to heaven now!"
Dwight shook his head.
"Let's wait on that one," he told her. "I want you to see the first regular season game, too."
She smiled and hugged him harder.
It seems Dwight Howard really is Superman.
Not because he is a man of steel, but because he has a heart of gold.
And she gave Dwight Howard a hug – a hard, happy hug.
Mama Kay's real name is Kay Kellogg. You might remember her from this column. She is 62, dying of cancer and had just a single item on her bucket list. Her one dying wish was to meet her hero, Dwight, before she passed away.
Dwight found out about it and visited her home a few weeks ago. He was scheduled to stay for 30 minutes, but ended up staying a couple of hours because the two fast friends talked and laughed so much that they lost track of time.
Click here for your chance to win free groceries for a year!
It was love at first Dwight.
Dwight started calling her "Mama Kay" and, amazingly, he did something chemo could never do: He made her feel good again.
"He has become my 7-foot-tall bottle of medicine," she said then.
But before Dwight left her home that day a few weeks ago, she told him to say a prayer for her so that she could live long enough to see him play the first game in the new arena Sunday night. You see, she has been diagnosed with the advanced stages of Multiple Myeloma, an inoperable, incurable form of cancer that destroys the blood plasma in the bone marrow. She was given only a month or two to live.
Well, guess who was in the brand new Amway Center Sunday night, sitting there courtside courtesy of the Magic. wearing her favorite No. 12 Dwight Howard jersey and rooting her team on to a 54-point victory over the New Orleans Hornets? Mama Kay, that's who. And you should have seen the look on Dwight's face when he saw her.
``She told me, `I made it!' '' Howard said with a joyful smile splashed across his face. "She was just so excited to be here and I was just so excited to see her.''
This is why sports have always been so amazing to me – because they have the extraordinary power and potential to pull people together. Doesn't matter if you're black or white, Republican or Democrat, Christian or Muslim, Gator or Seminole – everybody comes together at a Magic game and roots for the same team.
I've written it before and I'll reiterate it here: The sports world, perhaps more than any other part of our everyday lives, truly is color blind. Mostly white fans will fill an arena to cheer for mostly black basketball players. Peyton Manning, a white quarterback, loves to throw the football to Reggie Wayne, a black wide receiver. Magic forward Mickael Pietrus, a black man from Guadeloupe, is great friends with center Marcin Gortat, a white man from Poland.
"In the NBA, you see teams made up of players from every country and every race, and we all get along," Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers once told me when he coached the Magic. "We're a pretty good model for all walks of life."
What's it tell you when Dwight Howard, a young, incredibly healthy black man, is inspired by Kay Kellogg, an older, incredibly sick white woman – and vice versa?
Kay's entire body is in excruciating pain, but on Sunday night she was smiling and clapping and cheering at every point Dwight scored and every rebound he pulled down.
She cried on the way to the arena as she reflected back on all the good times Dwight and the Magic have provided her over the years.
"I was just so excited, I started to tear up," she said. "I was thinking about all the times I've watched Dwight and how happy he makes me feel. I just love him and the Magic so much."
The thing is, he was supposed to inspire her but she has ended up inspiring him. He sees how she is facing her death and it makes him want to make the most of his life. She is not depressed. She is not bitter. She just talks about how lucky she is to have lived such a wonderfully full life.
"She's just a blessing," Dwight says. "She's just overwhelmed with joy every time she comes to a Magic game. … We take life for granted sometimes. One thing I learned from her is that she makes the most of every breath she takes. We all need to be like that."
At the preseason opener Sunday night, Dwight presented his new best friend with an autographed pair of his size 18 adidas sneakers with the words "Mama Kay" stitched into them. Dwight will wear a similar pair of Mama Kays when the real season begins.
She thanked him for everything when he came to her seat Sunday night and then said something that took him a little by surprise.
"I made it to opening night," she said. "I can go to heaven now!"
Dwight shook his head.
"Let's wait on that one," he told her. "I want you to see the first regular season game, too."
She smiled and hugged him harder.
It seems Dwight Howard really is Superman.
Not because he is a man of steel, but because he has a heart of gold.
Comment