Make a Wish!

During the regular season, on every Friday before a home game, the Pittsburgh Steelers host a Make A Wish family here at our complex in the South Side. With our first home game (and home WIN) of the season yesterday, we hosted our first family of the season this past Friday. 17 year old Jerardo is battling leukemia and his wish was to meet the Pittsburgh Steelers. When arriving to the complex, we greeted Jerardo and his family. We found out his favorite players were Ben Roethlisberger and Bud Dupree. To start things off, Jerardo got to watch the practice (which is closed to the public). When practice ended, he got to go on the field to meet all of the guys. Ben (who wanted to act like he was leaving) ran off of the field without saying anything to Jerardo (who became visibly upset). Jerardo got to take pictures, get autographs and have conversations with the whole team and coaching staff. He filled up his football, terrible towel and jersey with signatures galore! Then we took Jerardo and his family inside to stand outside of the locker room, where Ben was. Ben then walked right past all of us but then laughed with a big smile and spent a lot of time with Jerardo and his family, as well as gave them their tickets to Sunday’s game. Last to be met was Antonio Brown, who Jerardo is also a big fan of. Last but not least, Jerardo got to take pictures with all of the Super Bowl trophies, which is always a favorite part of the day. I had a great experience with my first Make A Wish through the Steelers, and I am looking forward to the rest!