Seven-Year-Old Cancer Survivor Nominated for MLB Fan of the Year

Nick Kangadis | September 14, 2016
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Being diagnosed with cancer is always difficult, no matter how good the odds of beating it may be. But one 7-year-old Chicago boy won his battle with the disease, and now he might be on the verge of receiving his just reward.

Meet Beckham Zobrist. In March 2012, his parents noticed that young Beckham had a glare in his eye and wondered what could be the cause of it.

Beckham’s mother, Erin Zobrist, told WGN, “It was in March 2012 that we started to notice a glare in his pupil in certain lighting, and it just got progressively worse and that glare took over the pupil of his eye.”

The Zobrist family then received the worst news possible: it was cancer. Beckham was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, and the only way to stop it from spreading to his brain was to remove his right eye.

But of course, children that age often don’t really comprehend the severity of certain situations. Once Beckham was healthy and the cancer was gone, he began getting taunted at school and in sports.

“This kid just started calling him a freak and we saw him just shy away,” said Erin.

In response, Beckham made a Christmas list at school that he showed to both his mom and his dad, Nick Zobrist. The main thing he wanted that year, he said, was a “new eye.”

While it wasn’t possible for him to get a new working eye, Beckham told Erin that he wanted a Chicago Cubs eye. So an ocularist made a custom prosthetic eye for Beckham emblazoned with the Cubs logo, and the response from his friends was definitely positive.

According to WGN:

And during his visit to Wrigley field, the players and coaches were as well.

“He’s my idol, and I look up to him and other kids like him that’s gone through what he’s gone through and wish him all the best," said Cubs bench coach Dave Martinez. "I told him he’s more than welcome to come back any time he wants.”

Martinez gave Beck a personal tour. Kyle Schwarber [Catcher] told the young fan, he sadly wasn’t using his bat this year so he offered it as a gift. And Anthony Rizzo [First Base] came to the dugout to meet the little boy who had gone through such a huge ordeal. He told him, he too was a cancer survivor. The day left him speechless.

Nick commented, “He did say, because we went to Disney World two years ago for Make-A-Wish, he told me that Make-A-Wish was now number two and this is number one.”

But that’s not all.

WGN also reported:

Now, Beckham and three other Cubs fans are in the running for Major League Baseball's Fan of the Year. WGN created the video that MLB is using to tell Beckham's story. The video even includes guitar music by WGN Midday News anchor Steve Sanders!

To check out all four of the previously mentioned candidates, click here.

For the aforementioned WGN video, watch below:

 

 

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