He stands 6’10” tall and is a monster of a man. She is probably no more than 4’ tall.
He weighs 240 lbs. She is but a waif, most likely between 50 and 60 lbs.
He is 23 years old. She is 8.
He is a gifted basketball player and will be a 1st round draft pick in
this year’s NBA draft. She is just a child who is fighting
for her life.
He calls her Princess. She calls him her Superman.
Their unlikely friendship is a refreshing story in a world that, well, just needs more refreshing stories.
Their friendship began three years ago during a routine hospital visit
by the Michigan State Men’s Basketball team. Hospital
visits are common in college athletics, serving to connect the athletes
to their community and allowing them to use their “local celebrity” to
brighten the lives of kids and adults at a time when they need it the
most. East Lansing is a real basketball town, and the team
is extremely popular. The players enjoy an exalted position
within the community. Patients who receive a visit are thrilled,
and occasionally, the players walk away from the experience having
benefited far more than the patients that they visited.
Lacey Holsworth was just 6 years old when she was diagnosed with
neuroblastoma, an insidious form of nerve cancer. Lacey had
developed tumors that involved a kidney and wrapped around her
spine. Two months after being diagnosed, Lacey was in Lansing’s
Sparrow Hospital, recovering from surgery and paralyzed from the waist
down. That was when the Spartan basketball team came to
visit.
Lacey and her family are basketball fans and the irrepressible girl
certainly enjoyed the visit by the team. At the end of the visit,
she locked onto the biggest guy in the room and asked him to stay with
her a little longer. When asked later why she chose Adreian
Payne, she said it was his smile.
Without hesitation, Payne stayed and began an improbable
story. When Adriean left the hospital later that day, he
asked Lacey’s dad for his phone number so that he could check in on
Lacey. Matt Holsworth didn’t expect the college kid to actually
follow-up. But Payne did. Lacey’s mother
recently said in a TV interview that Adreian walked into their family
and didn’t leave.
The Princess and Superman have become inseparable. They text and
call each other almost every day. Adreian is a frequent visitor
to the Holsworth home where Lacey’s room is adorned with pictures of
Adreian and his teammates. They hang out and watch movies.
She bakes him brownies. Payne, and some of the other Spartans
wear a “Pray for Lacey” band when they play. When
able, Lacey frequents the Spartan’s practices and games. The year
she was a guest of honor at the end of the season basketball banquet.
Lacey’s two year battle with cancer has had its ups and
down. Despite victories along the way, the tumors have
returned and spread. She has been through
chemotherapy and now radiation therapy. She is scheduled to
begin an experimental treatment in the near future. Through it
all, Payne has been there with her. He was
there earlier this year when she awoke from surgery.
During this past month’s Senior Night celebration, when Payne was
introduced to the Breslin Center crowd, he walked on to the court
hand-in-hand with Lacey and her parents.
A week later, when the Spartans won the Big Ten Tournament, and it was
his turn to climb the ladder to cut down the net, Adreian picked up
Lacey and gave her the privilege of helping to cut it down net.
Though folks in this mid-Michigan community have been aware of Lacey’s
story over the past two years, only recently did Lacey and Adreian
start to receive significant attention---and in the most unique
way. Jay Bilas, popular basketball analyst, is well known for his
very active Twitter account. He has over 600,000 followers,
and until recently he followed no one. Until he heard about
Lacey and Adreian. Now he follows one person,
@adorablelacey.
In the past two weeks, as Michigan State fought their way through the
NCAA Basketball Tournament in their quest for a National Championship,
the story of this unlikely pair took center stage with coverage by most
major networks and newspapers from here to Europe. Spartan
alumni have taken to the internet to raise money for Lacey’s medical
expenses with over $30,000 raised as of last week.
On Sunday, with their loss to Connecticut in the Elite 8 round of the
tournament, Payne’s dream of a championship came to end.
Shortly after the game, he and disappointed Spartan fans were picked up
by a simple tweet from an 8 year old princess. “Family over
Everything,” Lacey tweeted.
How did she get to be so smart, so young?
The Princess and her Superman cut down the net at the Big Ten Tournament.
