Thursday, June 26, 2008
By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Peter Diana
John Challis shakes hands last night with one of his baseball heroes, Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.
John Challis shakes hands last night with one of his baseball heroes, Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.
John Challis, the Freedom youngster who has gained national attention for his battle with cancer, wrote a message on the eraser board of the Pirates' clubhouse yesterday afternoon.
"Have fun," it said. "The reason why we play ball is fun."
He signed his name underneath.
Challis, 18, also delivered a brief speech in the closed clubhouse to all players and staff, after which everyone in the room stood and applauded. From there, he spent extra time with first baseman Adam LaRoche to "talk about hunting and stuff," then sat in manager John Russell's office -- his chair, actually -- during Russell's afternoon news conference.
Asked to compare his battle to those faced daily by Major League Baseball players, Challis laughed and replied: "Baseball's not that complicated. You swing the bat, and you hit the ball. You don't worry about your stats. You just play the game."
Of his fate, he said: "God thinks I'm strong enough to handle it. He's just using me to spread His message."
Before Challis took his seats for the game, he also met with "the player I really want to meet" when he spoke with New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter during batting practice.
"If we can all show the courage and faith that John has, or even half of it, we'd all be better off," Russell said. "The unselfishness that's a part of his life should be a lesson to all of us."
Challis announced the creation of his Courage For Life Foundation to benefit high school students with terminal illnesses. The Web site is http://www.courageforlifefoundation.com/.
First published on June 26, 2008 at 12:00 am
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