McKinney Boyd Football Team Passing The Hat, Even In The Offseason
McKINNEY (CBSDFW.COM) - This is a story that actually starts in the previous football season, even though this is not a story about football.
Last season the team manager (and former player) for the McKinney Boyd Football team was fighting a brain tumor. His family was having financial problems dealing with the health care costs. The team decided to hold a "Purple Out" for their home game against arch rival Allen. Purple is the international color of the fight against cancer.
All the plans and banners were made. Mayors from both McKinney and Allen promised to show up to pass around two purple helmets in the crowd.
The day before the game the student, Willie Wilson, died from his cancer. By the time they finished passing the helmets around the stadium they had raised $10,000. It went to help his family bury their son.
Football players like to battle their opponents and, more importantly, win. They couldn't leave that score on the board. The team decided to continue to raise money, this time for anyone in their community who was battling cancer.
One of those people got a check from the team Friday. He is Jackson Houser, a three-year-old fighting T-Cell Leukemia. He's been in chemotherapy since his diagnosis back in October.
"Recently he has been very, very sick and it is very hard to see your son, obviously, getting very sick and nauseated" his mother told CBS 11.
Team members played with Jackson on a warm, sunny day in his backyard. His mother said this was the happiest she has seen him in months. Jackson couldn't believe that all these boys, big ones at that, were so anxious to play with him. They played baseball, jumped on the trampoline and played tag.
An hour later he had to have another injection of his cancer treatment. It was his third one this week and he would spend the rest of the evening in bed feeling dizzy and sick to his stomach. But he could think about what a fun afternoon he had, hoping all those big kids who all knew his name would want to come over again and play again.
Assistant Coach Sammy Covey, who nominated the Houser family for the donation, handed the two parents, Lindsey and Kyle a check in the backyard. It's to help defray the day-to-day costs of dealing with a three-year-old with cancer; gas money for the chemo trips, meals when no has time to cook and keeping the house dust-free during Jackson's recovery.
But most of all it was a message. The team wanted to come over Jackson's house and tell him what is ahead of him. There is a seat waiting for him at McKinney Boyd High School. They just want him to get through this really, really tough pre-school.
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