Flyers Host Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House Night
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House Night at the Flyers game.
Little Nicholas is having a great time, cheering on the orange and black.
It's a special night for this 5-year-old, helping him forget for just a few hours the cancer battle he's been fighting for most of his young life.
"He just had his third surgery and third round of chemo, said Nicholas' mother, Christine Weideman.
Nicholas was diagnosed with a rare cancer in his spinal cord and has been staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia on and off for four years.
Tonight's outing is an unusual treat for this little fighter.
"It's really awesome. It's something that i wouldn't otherwise be able to do for him after going through what we've gone through in the last four years, so this is really exciting for a 5-year-old to come out to enjoy a hockey game, especially like this," said Weideman.
Seventeen-year-old Colin Delaney is also enjoying this rare night out.
"It's really amazing, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get to sit in a box," he said.
"We are not allowed out much because of his recovering from the bone marrow transplant, so this is actually extraordinary to be here tonight," said Colin's mom, Melissa Delaney. "The energy, it's super cool and just that it's super cool and just that it's really nice to be out of the house, with people, be normal and have fun."
Colin has been a patient at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for close to 300 nights.
"There's this room on the oncology floor that's called the Ronald McDonald room and once in a while they would give you a free dinner and everybody can go in and eat as much as you want," Colin said. "They donated washing machines so my mom could just wash my clothes, blankets and pillows and stuff instead of driving all the way home and have to wash it there."
"Without the Ronald McDonald room on the oncology floor we would have been completely lost," Delaney said. "It's a haven for parents to be able to escape to."
A place for exhausted parents to decompress, just like what these families are experiencing tonight at the Wells Fargo Center.
And even though the Flyers lost, it was smiles all around for this special group of fans.