Dream Comes True For Stockton Thunder Fan Suffering From Cancer
STOCKTON (CBS13) – It was a dream come true as the Stockton Thunder marked something off the bucket list of one 22-year-old cancer patient Wednesday night.
Tucker Larson and his family have been Thunder season ticket holders since the beginning. Tucker has always wanted to drop the puck at center ice, and Wednesday night, he got to do that and then some.
For him, it was the thrill of a lifetime.
"When you're on that bench, you get to see the excitement, intensity and pressure and it's just phenomenal," said Tucker.
You wouldn't know it from his attitude, but this huge hockey fan has terminal cancer.
First diagnosed with soft-cell sarcoma at age 6, he was in remission. Then in May, at age 22, the cancer came back and Tucker was given six months to live.
His parents say he is still fighting, every day, and getting the most out of life.
"Memories is all you can take with you, that's it," dad Stephen Larson said.
"Wonderful, emotional, so to see him so happy is, as a parent you, can't put it into words," mom Julia Larson said.
The Stockton Thunder helped Tucker cross one thing off his bucket list. He skated with the team, shooting some pucks during morning practice. Later, he gave them a pep talk. Then he watched the game right from the bench.
"They've took me in and treated me like one of their own," said Tucker.
The biggest fan in the arena was beaming and cheering for a comeback win. There's no quit in Tucker.
"It's not hard. You either think negative or you think positive," he said. "You gotta think positive; that's my outlook."
Tucker says this won't be the last Thunder game he attends. He's hoping to make it to a playoff game this season, but he'll never forget the night his favorite hockey team treated him like family.
Unfortunately the Thunder lost 6-2 Wednesday. Tucker and his parents plan to be back in their normal seats for the Thunder's next home game this Saturday.
