Hi, I'm Rachel Whitaker, sports writer at the Lake Charles American Press, coming to
you from LaGrange High School.
The LaGrange football team had a special guest on its sidelines Friday night in seven-year-old
Roderick Christian.
He was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer, just last month.
And he took part in the pre-game activities, including the coin toss, and joining the team
on the field before kickoff.
He proved to be a motivating force for the entire LaGrange football team, and shed some
light on life's toughest lessons.
Get it to the end.
Do you understand me?
Yes, sir.
Hey, you're playing for something now.
It really counts now.
Again, let's make sure we understand.
How Roderick's visit to the football team came about on Friday night, yeah.
It was really great.
The kids really enjoyed it.
It served as both a motivation for them, as well as an opportunity to reach out to the
community and help someone who's going through a difficult time right now in their lives.
The kids were real receptive to having someone such as Roderick to come, because in the past
he was always here.
He and my son are really good friends, and there's been numerous times he's been around.
So the kids were familiar, a little discouraged that they had to hear the circumstances that
he was under.
But again, it served as both a motivational tool, as well as something that could be uplifting.
All right.
Big man.
Big Rod.
All right, let's make sure we get as our prayer, and guys, get as our prayer, and let's get
our prayer.
Chill eaters.
Go ahead.
Those are some great things, you know, to have that.
And two of my players actually texted me yesterday, Coach, if you see Roderick telling
my prayer form in church.
So if I can change the concept of our athletes and understanding that there's a higher being,
and that football is just second, you know, that I really think that I'm making a difference,
or not I myself, but we, as coaches, are making a difference here at LaGorge.
Coach Sullen hopes that the experience of having Roderick join his team on the field Friday
night will help them learn how to appreciate each day and stay strong in life's battles.
We see it as a, a motivating towards us, because we know that we can be in that same predicament
as him.
But that was his plan for his life, and for him to carry that out, we pray for him to
be strong enough so that the council will go away, and that we can look at it towards
as being a sign towards us so that we can, you know, take life more seriously, because,
you know, sometimes we wake up in the morning and go through the same motions, but we never
thank God for it.
And every day we should thank God for our new day, whether we wake up mad or happy.
