Here is the Doctor who also worked very hard to help James in his battle. Thank You!!
So – A few days then the medicinal entry port comes out of Conner’s chest… then however many days it takes to heal and we are back to full contact for the fall camp.
Note especially here that Conner didn’t want any special treatment as a patient. That is he wanted to be in the cancer ward with every other patient and did what he could do to make the world a better place for them, and I’m sure their families. His initial diagnosis wasn’t good, the cancer was very large according to his Dr. and yet he was joyful and, at least publicly, calm every day.
I’d like to take a second and mention someone who most fans don’t know. Mike Gallagher from Erie, PA is much like a surrogate father to Conner. He himself has had multiple physical problems that stemmed from a sideline hit in a college game he was covering for his local newspaper… so he was a great role model and support – as was Gallagher’s family I’m sure – during this entire process.
Mike Gallagher and James Conner are two of sports success stories and I’ll say a big Thank You! to Mike also for all he has done, not just for James, but anyone he has come in contact with. I met Mike last fall and he and I had a long conversation about many things – not all Conner or football related. With guys like Mike involved, even if just on the outskirts, of Pitt’s football program we are in great shape.
One last Conner bit:
Anyone who has watched the sun set over Lake Erie can attest to its beauty.
Two years ago, 15-year-old Meghan Gallagher couldn’t see it from her hospital room at UPMC Hamot, where she spent three weeks getting treatment for a kidney ailment. And that bothered her friend, James Conner.
During one of his regular after-school visits, Conner decided to do something about it. He knew how much Meghan loved going to the beach and watching the sun set with her father Michael. So he picked Meghan out of a hospital bed, cradled her in his massive arms and set her down in front of a window.
“The sunset relaxed her mind,” Conner said.
Kind of says it all…
Two days ago the Trib had another Chris Peak Podcast, this time with Ken Laird, and they start out talking about the Pitt-Penn State game’s kickoff at noon on Sept 10th and the accompanying bitching done by Pitt fans. This is a good listen to have on at work in any event:
I’ll say now, and fans may not like it, that the Pitt-Penn State game is important to the state of PA but other than that – and for the rest of the nation – the game is like any other.
It certainly wasn’t like that in the past. Back when both teams were at the top of the ranking regularly this match-up was an event. Now however we are two programs that college football fans have a short memory about.
Jerry DiPaola has an fun blog about the complains regarding the noon start.
Here we have an example of what I do when I’m bored. I was thinking about Pitt’s history, uniforms, Pitt-PSU and all the previous doings of Pitt football that we like to discuss on here and came up with the novel idea of … talking about recruiting.
With the above discussions by Peak and Laird about the departures of players and the numbers game to get down from the current 87 (with recruits coming in) roster players down to the mandated 85 bodies I wonder not only who the next two guys to go are, but also, as they discussed in the podcast, which players from the ’16 recruiting class will be prepping at a secondary high school (like Fitzgerald, McCoy and Dion Lewis did) or will be taking a greyshirt.
