Remember, I am a HUGE Chiefs fan!! LOVE my Chiefs and have since I was a little girl! :)
I was in Philadelphia with Braden while he was getting scans, and I got a phone call from a friend saying she had nominated Braden and me to do the coin toss for the Breast Cancer Awareness game on October 24, 2010 against Jacksonville.
I was elated!! I had just had my reconstruction surgery two weeks prior (and when I got home, my sutures would open up and I would spend the night in the hospital and have surgery again the next morning...because Seriously...this is my life!) :) And my head was now covered in very short hair post chemo! No more hat!! :)
I was hopeful we might get the call, and we did. :)
I completely FREAKED out. They explained that Braden and I would do the coin toss and that we would get to be on the field while the guys warmed up and kicked off!!
I mean I really FREAKED out!! I had only been to Arrowhead twice...let alone touch the turf and been up close to the players.
WOOT WOOT...we were going to get to do all of that!!!
Well...I posted about it on Braden's CaringBridge site and someone sent that message to Mr. Donovan, Mr. Pioli, and Mr. Hunt. I had no idea...
Right before the game, I got a call from them telling me the details of where we were supposed to meet, what time, etc, and they mentioned that Mr. Pioli wanted to try to meet us in person if possible. WHAT??
MORE FREAKING OUT!!
Well..the day of the game, not only did to meet Mr. Pioli, we met Mr. Donovan and Mr. Hunt too.
Shut.The.Front.Door!!
(Mr. Donovan was the one that told me someone had emailed my CaringBridge post to them and that's how they knew we were such huge fans...and that Braden and I had been fighting cancer together.)
We got to meet those three amazing men in person and talk to them for a bit....and that was before the guys even came on the field! WHOA!
Braden was amazed by a dried up, brown leaf he found on the side of the field. He wouldn't let go of it. He just held it and stared in amazement! LOL!! Perspective, all of this going on around him and he appreciated a dried up brown leaf!!! This child is amazing and so is his brother (who was freaking out like mom). :) They were only 5 and 6 years old but man will they have a story to tell their kids (HOPEfully) :)
Then the players came out and Braden and I got to stand on the side of the field. KC Wolf held one of Braden's hands and I held the other and we were waiting for the signal to go to the center of the field.
I was soaking it up..and trying to stay composed but finding it really hard to not jump out of my skin when I noticed a REALLY big Chief standing next to me.
Right next to me.
I turned and looked and I didn't know his face (but he was HUGE). I couldn't see his numbers but he was chewing his mouthpiece and laughing while staring at me. I must have looked like a deer in headlights! :)
I said something like, "I know...but I'm sort of pinching myself trying to believe this is real!" He burst out laughing!! I blushed. :)
I found out later, it was Brian Waters.
Freaked again!
So we got the signal and went out on the field with KC Wolf.
Now this is game and they are in game-mode, fierce faces, tough guys going into battle to whoop up on some jaguars. I expected to go on the field, watch the coin toss, and then just walk off.
I didn't expect what was going to happen next.
We hadn't met Matt Cassel yet but we had been talking to Lauren trying to find a date to meet him.
Well, right after the coin toss, in the middle of the field, Matt bent down on one knee and smiled and looked at Braden.
Braden ran sprinting into his arms, threw both arms around Matt's neck and gave him a HUGE hug!
I think Matt's hug back was even bigger!
And I was in tears.
To be honest, I'm not exactly what the sequence was next because I couldn't see for the tears and I was completely amazed BUT...
we were suddenly surrounded by Chiefs giving Braden high fives and pats and smiles and love!
and I got a lot of hugs and kisses on the cheek too. I do know that one of those kisses was from Brandon Flowers!! Woo hoo!! Never washing my face again!!
HOLY MOLY!!
If this was a dream, I did NOT want to wake up!!
So the guys started to clear out and we began our walk back to the sideline when Coach Haley (who we had never met either) RAN OUT ONTO THE FIELD straight to Braden, and he bent down on one knee and gave Braden a HUGE hug and I got a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
Bryan Truta (the announcer) would tell me later that all of the guys in the control booth watched that and every single one of them had tears too. It was incredible!!
I was shocked and happy and amazed and speechless...(for me, speechless is a BIG deal! ;)
We got to watch the kickoff from the sideline...SHUT UP!!! :)
Then we made our way through the tunnel (another moment...holy smokes!) and they took us through this beautiful hallway to a suite. And the story doesn't end there!
Waiting in the suite was the most beautiful flower arrangement...for me. WHOA!
And at halftime....Lauren Cassel came to visit us and we got to meet her in person!!
If that wasn't enough, she stayed for most of the second half talking to the boys and the other people in the suite with us while trying to keep an eye on the game. She is one of the most gracious kind people I have ever met!!
And again..holy moly!! She could have just said hi and moved on...but she stayed and visited.
At the end of the game, I didn't want to go home. I knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we stayed for as long as we could to enjoy every minute.
The KC Chiefs are a class act!! They went above and beyond to make the day special for Braden and our family just because they cared! Another one of my favorite top ten days EVER!
So this post and yesterday's post are two of the reasons I love the Chiefs...but there is still SOO much more to the ongoing Chiefs story!! We'll save that for another day!!
And I will say it again, "2013 IS OUR YEAR KC CHIEFS!!"
Here are the pics! :)
And remember, if you want to see them bigger, you can click on the picture and it will enlarge, I recommend that...they are pretty small on here! :)
2013 BABY!!!
