The Shoes
Since 2008, October, the whole month of September,
he was just really bad sick. Throwing up. We were going to the hospital maybe 3 or 4
times a week, getting tanked up on fluids. They kept saying it was a stomach bug. They sent a helicopter. Picked him up and about 2:30 that morning,
they found a brain tumor. But we didn't know that it was cancerous until,
you know, a good bit after. 19 month old Elijah Serritt was diagnosed
with a medulloblastoma. He would have surgery 3 days later. The tumor was so large and so invasive and
then it had to be an invasive surgery to get it out. And it's just a lot of damage. A whole lot of damage. Elijah would have more than a dozen surgeries,
over the next few months, including stem cell tansplants. Doctors said he may never walk again, without
assistance. He didn't make a sound or a peep for about
three months.
It was a Saturday afternoon. The UAB Blazer basketball team was playing
at Bartow Arena. Elijah and his family were at the game. It was the UTEP game. Went triple overtime. That was his first game was the UTEP game
that went into triple overtime. We were sitting so close to the student section. It was so loud you know. This was the first time that we had seen him
show any kind of emotions. He was so excited that game. He took his shirt off, he saw the student
section. He took his shirt off he was waving it around. The Blazers had two wins that day. They won the basketball game but they also
won the heart and the love of a little boy who was beating the odds in his fight, against
cancer.
That game was just, it was really special
to us, to see him, to show that kind of emotion like that. The UAB Basketball family formed a very special
bond with Elijah. He is now part of their family, and it shows
after every home game. He'll come back in the locker room and hear
my postgame talk and listen to the guys and high five the guys and hang out with them
afterwards. We don't let anybody in the locker room except
for Elijah and his family. But Haase wanted to do more. To bring attention to Elijah's fight. So he got the idea for his players to wear
different colored shoes on game day.
To raise awareness for pediatric cancer. The team gave Elijah his very own pair. He was ecstatic. That smile on his face lit up like it always
does and he's just always wearing them around us. So, to see him with those shoes on when we
have our shoes on. It just makes you take a deeper look into
life. There's times when there's a lot bigger things
than basketball. But at the same time you can do a lot of things
through basketball and that's what we're trying to do, raise awareness. My job as a head coach is to make sure that
we think about community service, we think about the academic part of things. This has been something that has been something
that is very important to our guys and I think they've really embraced the idea and enjoyed
the idea of tackling a concept and idea that's bigger than themselves.
But I know when he comes in this locker room,
he's always excited and he's always the first person to put his hand in the middle and when
he does come. He comes to almost every game and to see him
and he always has his two different color shoes on and UAB gear supporting and always
the first person coach Haase or anybody talks to as soon as we get in the locker room after
wins. On this night, in Bartow Arena, in front of
a packed crowd, with their number one fan watching, UAB celebrated victory. Then they celebrated Elijah's birthday. In the locker room, complete with a birthday
cake. It's Elijah's birthday. He turns nine today so that's big time. For me, birthdays are really really special. There's a lot of kid that didn't make it.
They never made it out of the hospital. So the year that he was diagnosed there were
380 kids right here in Birmingham fighting cancer and a lot of them never made it home. So, birthdays are really really special for
us. Can't imagine the life he's had so far. It doesn't even compare through my 20 years
of life and it probably won't ever in my entire lifetime. But just how strong a kid he is just brings
us you know, strength and power and courage to the whole team..
