Chicago Bears (Photo Credit: Ryan Heckman, Da Windy City)
Garth Heckman and his wife Kim (Photo Credit: Ryan Heckman, Da Windy City)
For one father and son, the Chicago Bears are much more than simply an NFL franchise.
The date was April 2, 2009. The Chicago Bears had just made a blockbuster deal to acquire Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler from the Denver Broncos.
I heard a loud, frightening scream from downstairs accompanied with a boisterous slam against what sounded like the wall or kitchen counter. My first thought was, “Dad.”
My greatest fear was that something had gone wrong from the cancer treatment and he collapsed. Anything could have happened, and I was upstairs, out of reach and couldn’t help him up. I practically somersaulted down the stairs to see what had happened.
Instead, I was greeted with a bear hug (no pun intended) as I rounded the corner, heading into the living room.
“We got Jay Cutler! We got Jay Cutler! The Bears got Jay Cutler!”
I have never felt such an awkward combination of anger, happiness and relief in my life. He was fine. He didn’t collapse. Instead, he saw the breaking news in regards to the Bears trading for Cutler and slammed his hand down on the counter in excitement while letting out a loud, joyous roar.
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My pops was O.K. In fact, he was more than O.K. For the first time in months, he was the most outgoing and cheerful I had seen him. For just a moment, he forgot about the cancer, the bags upon bags of chemo and countless hospital visits.
There was hope. The Bears had hope, and he felt it.
That hope, though, was temporary. In the grand scheme of things, it was just the Bears. Now, you have to understand, the Bears were second to God and family. So, on one hand, it was the Bears! But again, in the grand scheme of life, it was just the Bears.
The next day, reality would set in again. He was in the middle of what would only be his first battle with cancer, and not even the Bears were enough to keep his mind off the most tiring, rigorous battle of his life.