LaDainian Tomlinson has plenty to think about these days.
He can concern himself with why he was pushed out of San Diego after being arguably the best running back in the NFL for five years. He can worry about how he will fit in with a crowded backfield in New York. He can even fret over how he will adjust from sunny Southern California to the busy and critical Big Apple.
But on June 15, the 2006 NFL MVP worried only about LaJerrick Keyes, a 9-year-old stranger.
Keyes suffers from congenital heart disease, and he wanted just one thing: to meet LaDainian Tomlinson. The little boy from Indiantown, Fla., used to root for the Chargers. But when LT moved to the Jets, Keyes moved his allegiance, too.
"He and his brother play [Madden on the PlayStation 2] all the time," said Stephanie Portee-King, the boy's mother. "You can pick [any other team] except LaDainian's team. He actually cries if somebody else picks him. … He's just always been a LaDainian Tomlinson fan."
So when ESPN and the Make a Wish Foundation surprised Keyes and told him he was going to meet his biggest idol, he could hardly believe it.
"When he came out of my room, he was smiling and stuff," Portee-King said. "But he never told me what was said. It was something between those two, but he was smiling all day."
LT, aware of his biggest fan’s physical limitations, showed young Keyes around the Jet’s locker room, introduced him to the likes of Santonio Holmes and Bart Scott, brought him into the huddle to fire up the team before practice, played a little catch on the field and challenged him to a game of Madden. It was easily Keyes' best day in a long, long time.
"Usually, LaJerrick gets fatigued a lot, and he doesn't want to do a lot of stuff," his mother said. "But LaJerrick was ready to go all day. He was just so excited."
As inspiring as this story — and other stories in which a kid is able to forget about a terminal illness for a day — is, what shouldn’t be overlooked is Tomlinson’s willingness to jump right in. Hundreds of Make a Wish children don’t get to see their wishes fulfilled, their idols unable or unwilling to make time. They are, after all, extremely busy people, and sometimes they can’t do everything.
Tomlinson, however, did everything and so much more. By just agreeing to meet Keyes, his dream was realized. But to spend the entire afternoon with LT — well, that was just too good to be true. It’s the small things — an afternoon of tossing around the pigskin and playing Xbox — that superstar athletes can do for their biggest admirers that truly make a difference.
Clay Buchholz was amazed that patients from Dana-Farber were so thankful for merely meeting him and a few of his teammates.
"When you see what kind of icon you can be in front of other people's eyes, and not even having to think about it, it definitely makes you stand back and realize that you're playing baseball, but you're helping kids," Buchholz said.
It’s so easy that most athletes don’t even realize it. But Tomlinson did and, in one afternoon, changed LaJerrick Keyes’ life.
