I am going to do a little thread CPR. This is going to be a bit long, but I promise you it will be worth it.
Never in a million years could I even remotely fathom the events that followed the Connor Senn game in May 2012 and how people could become forever linked. I am going to try to do this chronologically.
May 2012:
If you look at the first picture, you will see Ryan having a discussion with Crew player, Kirk Urso. I know these players walk out with kids all the time and meet and interact with thousands of people every year. However, this 10 minute interaction will definitely touch your heart.
June 2012:
We have season tickets to the Crew. They host Crew Fest each year. This is time for season ticket holders to come out and interact and play around with players and coaches, as well as get autographs. My wife, Ryan, Brayden and I went this year. See the 2 pictures below and more details about Crew Fest to follow.
| HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/png' |
| HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'image/png' |
Ok, now onto this little interaction with Ryan and Kirk. When Ryan saw Kirk in the little walled soccer field, he darted over to him and wanted to talk to him. Ryan walked up to Kirk and asked, "Do you remember me?" Pretty standard question for a 5 year old. To our utter amazement, Kirk responded, "I sure do, Ryan. You're the one with the bad heard." I swear I think the ends of Ryan's smile touched in the back of his head. They kicked the soccer ball around for a while and Kirk posed for the picture of the kids. Ryan wanted #15 for his soccer number because of Kirk. He had to have the same shoes that Kirk wears. He idolized Kirk.
August 2012:I'm at home in bed and my wife is at work. I read the news on my phone quite a bit. Lo and behold, the Crew announces that Kirk died at 22 years old. I called her and with a lump in my throat, I told her that Kirk died. My thought was, "Ryan is going to be devastated." My wife and I are in medicine and know that healthy 22 year olds don't just die for no reason. We were thinking the same thing...........what if it was heart related. When we told Ryan the next day, first words out of his mouth were, "Was it his heart?"
On August 15th, the Crew had a memorial for Kirk at the stadium. After the ceremony, we were able to spend about 20 seconds with Kirk's dad and Kirk's brother's girlfriend and were able to tell them about the interactions that Kirk and Ryan had. We thought that would be it.
Well, our worst fears were confirmed. Kirk had passed away from an undiagnosed heart defect. The coincidences are just starting to mount. When we told Ryan that it was, in fact, that it was Kirk's heart that caused his death, tears welled up in Ryan's eyes and said, "I wish my and Kirk's heart weren't bad." My wife and I couldn't fight back the tears at this point. Even typing this, it's hard not to cry.
A few months later, we get an email from someone at the Crew stating that Kirk's mom wants to talk to us about that brief, 20 second conversation we had with Kirk's dad. We were ecstatic that we would be able to talk to his mom. Since then we have had countless conversations, in email and in person, with Kirk's family. We have been able to travel and talk about Ryan's heart defect and the relationship it's allowed us to have with Kirk's family. It has been a true blessing.
Anyway, fast forward to the 2013 Crew season. We have 4 tickets behind the Crew bench and wanted to buy 1-2 more tickets next to us because they were almost always empty last year. Our ticket rep said that those 2 seats have been sold and were not available. My wife takes our 3 youngest to the first Crew game and the 2 people who have the seats next to us walk up and sit down. It's Kirk's mom and dad. They were given those seats. This was a total coincidence. Kirk's mom has taken a real shine to Ryan and keeps bringing him special gifts about Kirk. Ryan cherishes each and every one.
If all this isn't coincident enough, Ryan and Kirk share the same birthday, too.
I know pro athletes are obligated to "press the flesh" with fans as part of their responsibilities of the team. However, I would have never thought that 2 people would be put in each others lives the way that Ryan and Kirk have been.
Sorry for the long post. I hope that if you read it, it was worth your time.
