Tag: Make-A-Wish

How a 14-year-old cancer patient took her first golf swing with a high-profile coach — Jordan Spieth

She made the two-hour trek to TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course prior to the 100th playing of the Valero Texas Open.

SAN ANTONIO — Kendall Ramos is a newbie when it comes to the game of golf, but she’s quickly making up for lost time. And it only helped to fuel the fire that her first golf lesson — and even her first swing — came under the capable eye of one of Texas’ most beloved golfers.

Ramos was diagnosed with cancer in 2021 after constant knee pain led her mom, Crystal Landgraf, to take her to a doctor.

After a cancer diagnosis and surgery that removed part of her leg, the 14-year-old Kendall has been learning how to walk with a prosthetic.

“She was complaining about right knee pain for about five or six weeks, so we had her X-rayed where I was working at and I sent it to the radiologist … thank God,” Crystal Landgraf said. “He called me the next day as the provider, not as her mom, and the very next day we were seeing an oncologist.”

This week, the resident of Corpus Christi made the two-hour trek to TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course prior to the 100th playing of the Valero Texas Open.

Not only did she get a set of clubs from Titleist, including a custom-made Scotty Cameron putter, but Ramos got to take her first golf swing with returning champion Jordan Spieth by her side.

The moment was uplifting and emotional.

Kendall started chemotherapy in August 2021 and later underwent surgery to remove her femur. She is now learning to walk with a prosthetic leg.

Before her diagnosis, Kendall was a cheerleader and participated in track and volleyball. After receiving her prosthetic, Kendall’s doctor gave her three options of low-impact sports she could pursue: cycling, swimming and golf.

Though she’d never played before, Kendall decided to give golf a swing.

Kendall Ramos, 14, reacts after receiving a golf cart from the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Valero on Wednesday, March 23, 2022. Ramos uses a prosthetic leg after undergoing surgery for cancer, and she hopes to take up golfing. The foundation and Valero teamed up to surprise her with the cart to help her get around the golf course. (Photo by Ashlee Burns/Corpus Christi Caller-Times)

The Make-A-Wish Foundation wanted to make that easier by surprising Kendall with a custom golf cart she needed to get around the course. Having part of her hip and knee and her whole femur removed means Kendall can’t run or jump anymore. She’s still learning to bear weight on the prosthetic, but with physical therapy she’ll be ready to eventually hit the golf course. She will be starting her freshman year at Gregory-Portland High School later this summer.

“Since my surgery, I wasn’t going to be able to do any of the sports I had done before,” Kendall said. “I thought, ‘I live right by a golf course so why not?’

“I’m really excited to start learning,” she said, adding that she’d wanted the golf cart even before the diagnosis and surgery.

Make-A-Wish and Valero teamed up to buy Kendall her own golf cart that she could use to get around the golf course near her house.

“For anybody else out there, it gets better,” Kendall said with tears in her eyes.

Oklahoma quarterback signee Nick Evers announces NIL partnership with Make-A-Wish

Oklahoma quarterback signee Nick Evers announced his first NIL deal is a partnership with Make-A-Wish.

Oklahoma quarterback signee Nick Evers will have plenty of opportunities to profit off his name, image and likeness during his career with the Sooners. That comes with the territory of being a signal-caller in Norman.

In Evers’ first NIL partnership, though, the 6-foot-3, 187 pound quarterback doesn’t plan on collecting so much as a penny.

Evers announced on Wednesday that his first NIL partnership is with the Make-A-Wish foundation.

“I’m excited and privileged to announce my first NIL deal will benefit Make-A-Wish! I’m passionate about the mission, which is why 100% of the proceeds I help raise will go to kids with life threatening illnesses,” Evers wrote in his announcement.

In his tweet, Evers also shared the links to the Oklahoma Make-A-Wish and North Texas Make-A-Wish foundations.

Make-A-Wish’s mission is to create life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.

In an evolving college football landscape that has many fans concerned that NIL opportunities have perhaps supplanted team goals, this is a nice reminder from Evers that positive, life-changing impacts can be made through NIL as well.

Evers’ announcement was met with an outpouring of support from fans and families whose lives’ have been impacted by Make-A-Wish.

The Flower Mound, Texas, product was one of the Sooners’ final additions to its 2022 signing class. Evers committed to Oklahoma on Dec. 13 and signed with OU on the first day of the Early Signing Period on Dec. 15.

Evers threw for nearly 5,000 yards, recorded 44 passing touchdowns and rushed for 18 touchdowns over the course of his junior and senior seasons.

Evers is a consensus four-star signee across all of the major recruiting services. According to On3’s rankings, Evers is the nation’s No. 67 player nationally and sixth-best quarterback in the 2022 class.

247Sports has Evers as the No. 123 player nationally, ESPN has him ranked No. 134 and Rivals has Evers at No. 239.

Evers joins recent commit and UCF transfer Dillon Gabriel, walk-on Ralph Rucker, former Penn State transfer Micah Bowens and Ben Harris as quarterbacks on the Sooners’ roster.

True freshman starting quarterback Caleb Williams announced earlier this week his intentions to enter the NCAA’s transfer portal so it remains to be seen whether or not he will return to Oklahoma.

247Sports spoke with Evers at the 2022 All-American Bowl before Williams announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal and before Gabriel committed to the Sooners.

Evers was asked about the possibility of joining the OU program without an established starting quarterback.

“You know, it’s a crazy thought actually. I have nothing wrong with being throw into the fire early. I’m going to work my butt off every single day. To get the opportunity to be able to see the field soon is a blessing. I just need to get ready for it,” Evers said. – Chris Hummer, 247Sports.

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Eli Manning surprises family at Make-A-Wish event

Eli Manning was part of a great gesture via the Make-A-Wish Foundation in New Jersey.

Eli Manning has always been one of the good guys. The former New York Giants quarterback is still at it, even while retired.

On Tuesday, Manning surprised a family that had lost its daughter Penny in February after a battle with neuroblastoma.

Cassandra Izquierdo and Jack Lindsay were at the Make-A-Wish in Monroe Township, New Jersey, to present a check for $10,000 to the foundation.

The contribution was made in their daughter’s memory to Tackle Kids Cancer (TKC), a pediatric cancer research and patient care program through the Hackensack Meridian Children’s Health Children’s Cancer Institute, where Penny received treatment and something she wished the family would do.

To their surprise, Manning came out as the check was being presented,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpGf8CVSo1k

Per NJ.com:

“These can be tough moments when you’re dealing with children, pediatric cancer and you’re dealing with Make-A-Wish and you’re giving the last wishes to these kids,” Manning told NJ Advance Media. “But you understand that you are making an impact on these kids and these families. So a lot of times you hear the stories after from the parents or from the kid that it did lift their spirits a little bit

“Seeing kids go through the chemotherapy and now come out of it better and back home with their family, back in school,” Manning said, “you see the great work that the research does, that the trials do and that that money is going to good use.”

Expect to see Manning back in a role with the Giants in 2021. It doesn’t sound like he will be a coach or in the front office, more like an ambassador.

“We’re figuring that out,” Manning said of his new role to NJ.com. “The Giants have been so important to me and the last 16 years of my life and really my whole adulthood. We’re going to be living in the same area so just wanted to see if there’s a role there to stay involved in some way. We’re still discussing that, figuring that out, but just hope that we can find something, find ways for me to be involved and figure out how that’s going to work out.”