On Tuesday night, just before their College World Series battle with Coastal Carolina, Texas Christian University's baseball team received a visit from their biggest fan: seven-year old Micah Ahern.
Ahern is in the midst of a three-year long battle with neuroblastoma. Ahern's family found out in early June that his antibody treatment had not beaten back the cancer, he'll be heading into hospice care soon.
Ahern and his family have maintained a strong relationship with the Horned Frogs since 2013 (his catchprase, "Never, ever give up," has become the team's motto), and through the generosity of an anonymous donor Ahern was able to visit his favorite team Tuesday night -- possibly for the last time.
Micah spent time with his "teammates" before the game against the Chanticleers, signing an autograph for sophomore Evan Skoug and sharing a pre-game meal with them. Players and coaches alike shared with WFAA Dallas how Ahern's presence impacted them:
"[Visiting with Micah] makes the baseball game really easy to go out there and play, because you see a kid like Micah -- who is one of the strongest humans I've ever met -- and when you see the smile on his face, it just makes it easy to smile yourself," pitcher Brian Howard said. "He puts you in a good mood immediately when you see him, and he's just a huge part of this team. We say it a lot, but it's hard to even give everyone outside of our program an ide of how much he really means to us."
..."I think it was great to see him. I think it's the first time we've seen him since we got some of the news that hasn't been so great to hear, and so it was just a joy to see him," TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. "This was honestly the most energy that I've ever seen him have over an extended period of time. I think he was feeling [like] himself all day. He was enjoying the attention, which he more than deserved, and it was just good to see him and have him around and be around the guys [...] Anything that brightens his day."
Their uniforms emblazoned with the Micah "logo" (the Superman crest with an "M" instead of an "S"), the Horned Frogs defeated Coastal Carolina 6-1 to move one step closer to the national title.
I'm sure Micah will never forget watching his team win on the baseball diamond, just as the players will never forget how this little boy inspired them to continue fighting until the very end.