7-Year-Old Heart Patient Turns Hospital Room Into 49ers Fan Zone
PALO ALTO (CBS 5) – A 7-year-old hospitalized boy is the latest to lay claim to being the biggest San Francisco 49ers Super Bowl fan in the Bay Area.
Young heart patient Jacob Murphy of Rio Linda is a nuts-about-the-Niners fan who has turned his room at Packard Children's Hospital into a 49ers Fan Zone. He's doing it up big not just to cope with his hospital stay, but also in order to get ready for a large family gathering to watch Sunday's game.
"Jacob is absolutely ecstatic," said mom Rebecca Johnson, who has her own 49ers wardrobe picked out.
The second-grader is an inpatient at the hospital's Children's Heart Center, but no tests or treatment will be getting in the way of Sunday's action. In fact, Jacob already has his food order in. "I want us all to have a Gameday Bucket from KFC," he told his mom, "especially with chicken tenders."
When asked his favorite player, Jacob pointed to the Frank Gore #21 jersey on his bed, but quickly followed with shoutouts to Colin Kaepernick, Alex Smith, Vernon Davis and just about everyone else on the team.
He would like to follow in the footsteps of his football heroes, but with congenital heart problems in the way Jacob's now talking about shifting careers. "I'd like to be a play-by-play announcer," said Jacob, who immediately launched into a rundown of plays from the NFL Championship game.
The bling around his neck, the balls around the room, the flags over the bed, the pictures on the wall. It's all 49ers all the time for the young man with a very simple dream. "He wants to meet one of the 49ers in person," his mom said.
Jacob doesn't seem to be too worried about the outcome of Sunday's big game; he wasn't the least bit afraid to share his prediction: "Niners 34, Ravens 0."
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