Bruins honor young fan with Down syndrome who beat cancer
Bruins honor young fan with Down syndrome who beat cancer
Eight-year-old Liam Fitzgerald shares a fist-bump with Reilly Smith of the Boston Bruins. (MyFoxBoston.com)
An eight-year-old avid hockey fan was on the bench Tuesday night as his favorite team, the Boston Bruins, took on the Florida Panthers.
Liam Fitzgerald, who has Down syndrome and battled acute lymphoblastic leukemia when he was four, dressed as his favorite player Adam McQuaid for Halloween last year, and both McQuaid and the Bruins noticed, MyFoxBoston.com reported.
Liam was invited to join the players on the bench, and even met Patrice Bergeron before the game got under way, the report said.
In a moment that was captured by Bruins cameras and has since gone viral, as the players were exiting the ice after warm-ups, Liam, unprompted, stood on the edge of the bench and offered his fist for players to fist bump.
Every single Bruins player responded, and he even at one point is seen enthusiastically shaking his hand out of pain, MyFoxBoston.com reported. Daniel Paille even gave him a pat on the head.
What is most heartwarming, is resoundingly people just see him and enjoy seeing him and they enjoy the emotion, and it makes them feel good for the rest of the day, Bill Fitzgerald, Liams dad told MyFoxBoston.com.
The Fitzgerald family remembers the pain Liam went through when battling cancer and is grateful to share moments like this with him.
We just take it one day at a time. We never thought when we had Liam wed have this kind of attention, we never thought wed have the personality and the joy, so honestly, were just along for the ride, Bill told MyFoxBoston.com.
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In a moment that was captured by Bruins cameras and has since gone viral, as the players were exiting the ice after warm-ups, Liam, unprompted, stood on the edge of the bench and offered his fist for players to fist bump. Yeah Liam!!