Santa Claus. He was mistreated at Pat’s. They got the order wrong at Geno’s. And he was frisked and shaken down and barked at by the security at the Liberty Bell.
Niels will never return to Philadelphia. Two hours in Filthy and he’s gonna hate the Eagles and 76ers for life. We’re actually OK with that!
We arrived in New York City in time to watch the Steelers lose to the Cowboys. We also wound up in Jersey City at the Bengals team hotel saying hello to Marvin Lewis and watching the Seahawks beat the Patriots with Randy Moss and Charles Woodson of ESPN at the next table. Steve Levy, who I’ve known since the early 1990s when I called a Baltimore Skipjacks game with him during the infancy of my radio career, bought Niels a shot of tequila and watched a great football game with us.
On Monday, we made it to the top of the World Trade Center and managed to speak to the DKMS staff and ring their survivor bell while broadcasting it live for his family and Jenn, who was home sick.
After walking through Times Square and midtown Manhattan, I whisked him off for the final surprise of the #NielsInTheUSA tour: the Mavericks were playing the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
The Knicks were very generous and kind, allowing Niels to watch Dirk Nowitzki warm up on the floor. And the Mavericks then ushered us to the locker room area where Niels’ hoops hero was incredibly magnanimous and personable to our group from the DKMS.
I’m pretty sure that Niels was so shocked to meet Nowitzki that he didn’t know what to say. But they said a lot in German. It was a great moment. Jenn was bummed that she couldn’t be at The Garden but loved having the video of the moment.
In the end, it took 10 days and three cities but we got it done. Kudos to Mark Cuban, Sarah Melton and Dirk Nowitzki for being great people!
I’ll always be a Dallas Mavericks fan!
***
The people. The party. The celebrities. The sports events. The sightseeing and American adventure were all pretty cool. So were the penguins!
But on our final day, Niels spent the afternoon at Johns Hopkins accompanying Jenn on her monthly visit to give blood and make sure she’s still on the sunny side of the street.
We never take these trips to the hospital for granted. She spent 155 nights there.
Niels got to meet Dr. Keith Pratz, who has been Jenn’s primary leukemia caretaker since her diagnosis in March 2014. He also toured the wing, the halls and the rooms that she fought for her life.
Niels’ parents both work in the local hospital in Germany so he’s no stranger to the medical world. It might’ve been one of the reasons he chose to save her life.
For me, it was very emotional and taxing after all of the travel. It was almost incomprehensible that this 6-foot-6 German gentle giant was in the hospital where his blood saved her life twice.
So many people participated in making Niels feel special and we’re incredibly grateful to all of those who pitched in and did something kind.
We’re not really sure when we’ll see Niels again but we know we will sometime soon.
We appreciate all of the kind words and support from everyone who has followed our incredible leukemia journey. There’s still more to come.
Who knows what’s next?
Any ideas?
