Some days, Brody Sedlacek doesn’t feel so good.
When you hear more about how hard many of the 9-year-old’s months have been this past year, it’s easy to understand why.
Between the port placed in his chest, the needles that get thrust into his back and the countless transfusions of blood and medicine that must be pumped into him week after week, what’s hard to understand is how the fourth grader at Cassens Elementary in Glen Carbon can muster much of a smile.
He’s been through biopsies and bone-marrow aspirations, but Brody does smile, and he’s been doing a lot more of it lately, thanks to an assist from his hometown’s high school hockey team.
“It makes me feel good,†Brody said this week. “I’m proud of the boys. It’s been really fun.â€
It was Jan. 31 when an official diagnosis arrived.
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Brian and Courtney’s baby boy, the youngest of their three children, had lymph nodes that were too big to be normal, and after rounds and rounds of testing and a mother’s intuition that something just wasn’t right, the phone rang with an unwanted answer.
“It was a whirlwind from, ‘Your kid may have cancer to, OK, now we have cancer, and we are fast-tracking what we need to do,’†Courtney said.
“Overwhelming,†Brian added.
“Like being caught in a tornado,†Courtney said.
Brody has Stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After completing an induction cycle in October, he is in the midst of two years of what doctors describe as maintenance treatment that is designed to keep the cancer away for good. What the treatment is not designed to do, unfortunately, is be forgiving on the body of a sports-loving kid who would rather be shooting baskets or fielding grounders than making repeated trips to Cardinal Glennon for scans and treatments, pokes and prods.
“He lost so much,†Courtney said. “He used to play baseball. He played basketball. He was going to practices, and trying to keep up. He was literally getting sick on the field. We were pushing ourselves too far, and sports was not the priority at this point. Getting healthy is. He’s really missed that aspect of being athletic and being active.â€
Enter the Edwardsville High School hockey team, which this year partnered with the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Blues to launch a nine-game Hockey Fights Cancer series to .
While finalizing the series and spreading word about its purpose, Edwardsville assistant coach Rob Wiemers received a phone call from a player’s parent about a boy in the Edwardsville school district who was in the midst of his own fight. His name was Brody. Maybe the team could meet him?
Brody and his parents were invited to the Tigers’ picture day, and after introductory high-fives and fist bumps on the ice, the first of what has become many surprises arrived.
Brody was handed an orange Edwardsville hockey jersey, one just like the players were wearing.
Then every player and coach pulled out a Hockey Fights Cancer sign. Maybe you know the signs, perhaps from a Hockey Fights Cancer night at a Blues game. They are purple, and they say, “I fight for,†and then leave a place for a person to write down the name of the person they want to honor.
Every players’ sign carried Brody’s name.
“As a mom, you start crying,†Courtney said.
As for Brody, you tell your mom to stop embarrassing you in front of your new friends, and you start fitting in with guys almost twice your age.
“He seemed kind of timid at first, but we kind of put our arms around him, and ever since that, he’s been comfortable,†Edwardsville star goalie Kai Vetter said. “I’m glad he opened up, because he brings a lot of energy to our team.â€
What could have been just a sweater and a snapshot has grown into something special for both Brody and the Tigers.
Wiemers made sure the Sedlaceks left picture day with an open invitation to be part of the team. Edwardsville’s next game was against Parkway West in what became a win. The Tigers took their home ice at R.P. Lumber Center, looked up and saw Brody sitting near the glass. They skated over to offer fist bumps after a goal. It’s become a team tradition since.
Brody has been named the team’s player of the game after a win and accepted the honor in the team dressing room. His name has been added to the back of his sweater. He’s the proud recipient of a game-used puck, and on Saturday night, before another Hockey Fights Cancer game against Marquette, he will be called upon for an honorary pregame puck drop. Officially, the evening is being called “Brody’s Game.â€
“Hopefully,†Wiemers said, “the place will be packed.â€
Little things, right? But the thing about little things is, sometimes they add up to become big things.
“Now he knows the schedule, what nights there are games,†Brian said about his son. “For me, coming home from work, it went from him being tired from the hospital, to him talking about hockey and getting ready for the next game. Those treatments make him tired. It (hockey) motivates him to get out of bed, for us to get out of the house.â€
Brian’s work gifted him Blues tickets for a game in December. He had to hand them off to someone else after Brody informed him there was an Edwardsville game that same night. Brody has started skating a little bit. With apologies to baseball and basketball, it sounds like hockey will be his new sport when doctors clear him to play.
“He doesn’t want to miss games,†Courtney said. “He has a passion to watch these boys play. They mean so much to him.â€
That feeling goes both ways.
“The smile on his face, it’s worth the whole thing,†Edwardsville head coach Jason Walker said. “Bring a little joy to his life. Give him some distraction. And for us and our kids, it’s a mental reset of what is important and how there are people out there dealing with a lot of stuff. Sometimes our problems maybe aren’t as big as we think.â€
And get this: The Tigers have not lost any of the five games Brody has attended. Vetter credits teammate and winger Konnor Goclan with an on-ice connecting of dots in that department, summarizing what Goclan told the team in a huddle.
“He (Goclan) was like, ‘If Brody is fighting that hard, and he enjoys what we do, we have to fight as equally hard in our own field for him,’†Vetter said. “If he’s willing to give us his time and his energy, not playing as hard as you can isn’t an option.â€
A boy with a burden felt his heavy load lighten as a new sport entered his life. A team full of teenagers is speaking with impressive perspective, thanks to their newfound friend. A community has grown closer together, rallying around a worthy cause.
Hard not to smile.
“I’m thankful,†Brody said. “I’m so glad I can have a friendship with this hockey team.â€