Rhode Island star athlete battling cancer gets wish of attending Super Bowl
A Rhode Island track and field star who has been fighting cancer for the last five months is heading to Houston to watch the New England Patriots square off with the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl. Bobby Colantonio’s wish of attending the big game was granted by the A Wish Come True organization, The Providence Journal reports. The 18-year-old national high school hammer champion was diagnosed with metastatic Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer, in August, just as he was getting ready for his first collegiate season and starting classes at the University of Alabama.
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Colantonio told the Journal that watching the Patriots and Tom Brady play this fall helped distract him from his treatments at Hasbro Children’s Hospital. But when he was approached by A Wish Come True last month, he said he had no idea he would get to see the Patriots play in person.
“They asked what my wish would be and at first I couldn’t think of one particular thing,” Colantonio told the newspaper. “Most of the young kids asked for a trip to Disney World or something like that. They said think about it and finally I thought what about the Super Bowl. I figured they wouldn’t be able to do it, but as I might as well ask.”
Three days before the AFC Championship Game, the organization told Colantonio that he and his father were heading to Houston.
Colantonio and his dad leave next Friday, according to WPRI.
“I have some of my best memories in the locker room and stuff like that,” he told the station. “So, it’s a wish come true to go to the Super Bowl.”
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