When we received a call from a former Bison player that he had gotten us tickets to the game, we were so excited. We had no clue then what was awaiting us as we joined the Bison Nation in Frisco for the Championship game on January 5.
Our 10 year old son Jordan has been fighting Cystic Fibrosis his entire life. He developed a series of lung infections that left his lungs severely obstructed and damaged. So much so that without a double lung transplant, he is not expected to live much beyond 12 months. After searching for a Transplant Center that would consider Jordan (there are limited centers that will do lung transplants on children), we were accepted in September by the team at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. This required us to have Jordan living within one hour of the hospital. My wife Annette, along with Jordan and Jesse and I, have tried to treat our time there as an adventure and part of the journey that we know Jordan and our family must go through together.
As we prepared for Frisco, we honestly thought we were just getting to go to a Bison football game! After posting the story of the tickets on Facebook and Caring Bridge, the story went “viral”. The Forum picked up on the story and wrote an article, people started emailing and posting links to the story, Bison players began commenting on and tweeting about Jordan’s story. We had many more surprises to come! When we arrived at our hotel, we not only discovered that our room was taken care of, we found it decked out in Bison colors and Bison gear! There was a cash gift included to cover our other expenses while there. We were so excited for game day!
The next morning we got Jordan up early to complete his 45 minutes of lung treatment and therapy. Once at the game, many former Bison players introduced themselves and signed Jordan’s jersey and wished him well. Jordan had both a television interview and a radio interview. We were overwhelmed with gratitude when we were presented with a monetary gift that had been collected for Jordan! People had been putting money in a hat to cover the costs of tailgating that day and they agreed that after all the expenses were paid, they wanted our family to have the cash that was leftover. We went into the game with thankful hearts and nervous energy. After the Bison win, a player presented Jordan with a game ball. As we continue to pray and wait for God’s timing for Jordan’s new lungs, this incredible weekend has served to bless and encourage our family in so many ways! We have truly been reminded of God’s love and provision for us while we wait.