Words? Don’t ask a bunch of guys in Little League all-star uniforms to show they care about somebody by using words.
You’ll get something along the lines of what 11-year-old Blane Ortiz told me about Kenny Wilson: “Kenny’s cool. I hit a home run off him once.”
Nah, words don’t cut it. These guys can’t just say: “We love you, Kenny. Get well, man.”
If actions speak louder than words, they also speak when kids can’t quite put it into words.
So on Wednesday, North Everett Little League’s 11- and 12-year-old all-stars went into action. They paid Kenny a visit.
First they gathered on their home turf, Garfield Park. They rode in a caravan of coaches’ cars to just around the corner from Kenny’s house.
As their teammate waited in his yard, guys piled onto the back of a tow truck. With lights flashing and boys whooping it up, that truck rounded the corner and made Kenny ‘s day.
Lately, he hasn’t had the best of days. At the end of May, with playoffs starting, 12-year-old Kenny discovered he had leukemia.
“Kenny wasn’t himself,” said Gene O’Neal, who coached the Everett boy’s regular-season team, sponsored by American Construction. “He’d been tired. He had headaches and bruises.”
Beth Wilson said her son’s doctor sent him to Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle.
He was home two days last week after a 28-day stay at Children’s, where he had chemotherapy to treat acute myeloid leukemia. The cancer causes bone marrow to make abnormal blood cells. He returned to the hospital Thursday for a second round and another 28 days.
His father, Ken Wilson, watched quietly as all-star coaches Steve Ritchie and Greg Huggins gave Kenny his all-star uniform and a trophy.
“We’d love to have you out there, Kenny. You’re a whale of a ballplayer,” Ritchie told the boy, naming him “honorary captain” of the team.
Nick Buckles, North Everett Little League president, gave the family $1,000. Donations were collected in a jar at the ballpark. “Little League’s a family,” Buckles said. “This kind of shows it.”
The Lions Club bingo hall in Everett, where Beth Wilson works, also has donated $1,000 through a fund at Washington Mutual.
Blane Ortiz is right, his buddy is one cool kid.
“I’m doing fine,” Kenny said, but shared that getting chemo through a port in his chest “makes me feel a little crappy.”
“He’s so bummed he doesn’t get to play,” Beth Wilson said. Nevertheless, he’s in the team photo. It was taken in his yard after Kenny put on that sharp blue uniform.
“He’s a coach’s dream,” O’Neal said. “Kenny is one of our leaders, the Jamie Moyer or Edgar Martinez of our team. You have kids who are selfish, self-centered – not Kenny.”
Before his illness was known, he was picked as an all-star by coaches for his catching, pitching and infield prowess. He won’t be at the Alderwood Little League field at 2 p.m. today for the first game of the major boys all-star tournament. His team faces the all-stars of South Mukilteo Little League.
“I’m just glad he gets to be part of it,” Ken Wilson said as his boy lined up for the picture. “He’s having a good day.”
Boys began to drift away, headed for home or ball practice. Kenny, a lefty, picked up a tennis racket and took a baseball player’s swing. O’Neal, who’d watched that swing all season, took notice.
“He’s as pure a hitter as you’ll ever see,” the coach said.
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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