Great Story!

[kickinwang 0]

AU Fan Gets His WIsh

Big AU fan gets his wish and more

Verbena boy with multiple sclerosis meets his heroes

Friday, September 24, 2004

By PHILLIP MARSHALL

Times Sports Staff pmarsh9485@msn.com

AUBURN - It was a big day for Auburn football. Last Saturday's 10-9 victory over defending national champion LSU at Jordan-Hare Stadium vaulted the Tigers into the nation's top 10.

But for a 12-year-old, a coach and their families, it was a day to be remembered and cherished, not for a victory won on the field, but for a little boy's smile.

Nick Bush lives in Verbena with his father, Curtis, his mother, Debbie, and his brother, Adam. The challenges he faces every day are, in their own way, far more daunting than beating the defending national champions.

Nick has multiple sclerosis. He has undergone 28 surgeries and has a shunt to remove fluid from his brain, yet he is an honor roll student in the fifth grade at Billingsley School. And he is a huge Auburn fan.

Last July, Auburn running backs coach Eddie Gran and his wife, Rosemary, took their 5-year-old daughter, Sydney, to Children's Hospital in Birmingham to discuss elective surgery with doctors. Sydney was born in 1999 with Holoprosencephaly, a disorder in which the brain stops developing early in pregnancy. Nick was in the room next door, in the hospital for surgery because his shunt had become infected and his appendix had ruptured. He would remain there for 18 days.

The nurse taking care of Sydney and Nick was an Auburn graduate. She told Gran that Nick was an Auburn fan and particularly a fan of running backs Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams. Gran went in to visit.

"The kid was amazing," Gran said. "He knows everything about the Auburn football team. He knows everything about Ronnie and Carnell, their statistics and everything. The young man is just an inspiration to everybody."

Gran put in a call. Williams and Brown, who were undergoing treatment at the same time, each talked to Nick.

"He just kept saying 'Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.' " Gran said. "It was really neat."

Curtis Bush, a welder for Alabama Power Company, is a lifelong Auburn fan, and his youngest son took the Tigers early in life.

"He's a lot worse Auburn fan than I am," Bush said. "That's what he lives for."

Nick told Gran that he'd never had a worse day than Auburn's 31-7 loss at LSU last season and that he hoped the Tigers made up for it this season. Gran asked him if he'd like to be there to watch.

So it was that Nick, his parents and his brother were at Jordan-Hare Stadium last Saturday to see Auburn win on a Jason Campbell touchdown pass to Courtney Taylor with 1:14 left.

"I told my mama with three minutes left that we were going to do it," Nick said. "When we scored that touchdown, whew! It was loud!"

When it was over and Nick had yelled himself hoarse, he was invited to the locker room to meet his heroes.

"They were calling him by his name," Curtis Bush said. "We got pictures with Carlos Rogers and Ben Obomanu. They all acted just like they'd known him. Coach (Tommy) Tuberville came out and saw us sitting there. He signed the cap he wore in the game, wrote the score on it, and gave it to Nick."

For Nick, it was the moment of a lifetime.

"I think if I had a chance to do it again, I'd just pass out," Nick said.

Williams and Brown were moved by the young man with the wide eyes and the big smile.

"It means a lot," Brown said. "At lot of times, as athletes, we take stuff for granted. Just to meet him and see how excited he was motivates me."

Said Williams: "It makes you realize just how blessed you really are."

Nick will listen on the radio Saturday as No. 9 Auburn plays The Citadel. He'll be excited again, especially when he hears the names of Williams and Brown called.

"He worships the ground those two walk on," Curtis Bush said. "Saturday, he was one happy kid."

[woods1110 0]

http://www.aunation.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=11061

Someone beat you to the punch!

[Duder 236]

Good read. Yet another sign of a classy football program

[AtomicCityPitbulls 0]

Great read thanks for posting.

[sportwareagle 0]

I'm trying not to cry as I sit here at work and read this, but it's hard not to. These are the kind of guys we get when we have a head coach like Tubberville. All of those men in that locker room are sincere, hard working, and the kindest people you will ever meet. This story shows just that!

WAR EAGLE!! IT'S GREAT TO BE AN AUBURN TIGER!!!!

[kickinwang 0]

my bad...i guess i just looked over that one

[autiger6 0]

That is awesome. The fact he was able to be at one of the best game ever was better. The class our program has right now is great mainly due to the kids TT recruits.