By John Suchon

I am often asked by supporters of the program “What are the visits like?” My answer is simple-FUN! I often refer to them as the Big Win-Win.  The athletes enjoy the visits and participating in community service and the patients and the parents enjoy the camaraderie and fellowship of our wonderful Michigan kids.

A great example is a recent visit our Women’s rowing team group made to a patient by the name of Cade Lindsey. Cade was such an engaging young man the girls were just enchanted by his demeanor.We learned so much about Cade and his future plans; His classmates at Harlan Elementary formed a human heart symbol and took an aerial photo to provide support, he wants to be a police officer like his uncle and his favorite food is bacon-(second is chicken alfredo!).

We discovered that Cade is way too friendly to keep a smile off of his face if he tries to bark out “License and registration please!”  That being said we know he is brave because Cade told us he is a Florida fan even though he lives in Kentucky! We also got to see the working Ferris wheel Cade built complete with people in the seats. What a great kid- and as often happens as a volunteer/chaperone I eventually had to drag our group out of the room and keep moving to make other visits and complete our rounds for the night.

With wonderful people we meet like the Lindsey family what else could the visits be but FUN! Yet for all the fun the student-athletes have we still remember they are taking time out of some very busy schedules of studies and training to spread some good cheer. We cannot thank them enough for what they do for the families up at Mott Hospital every Thursday night.

So maybe in the future they might get a break driving through Kentucky when a patrolman named Cade pulls them over, because a few years back he became a little bit of a Michigan fan as well!