CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CAROLINA SPORTS LIVE) — At first, the idea seemed a little out there.
“Are you kidding me?” thought Kelly Champion.
The answer was no. But the more the Charlotte native thought about it, the more she realized, the whole thing made perfect sense.
“We’re like, is this real?” she wondered before realizing the answer. “This is real!”
And so there she was: a 52-year-old woman, in full football gear. surrounded by some new friends and forever teammates. Standing together side by side, taking in the cheers at Bank of America Stadium as honorary captains just before the Panthers took on the Cowboys.
“I feel like running out on the field, catching a ball, and knocking somebody over,” she said. “I just feel so wonderful with this.”
It took a long time for all six to get here. All of them had their own fight and unlike an NFL game, it didn’t just happen on Sunday. It happened every single day against an opponent that threatened their very existence.
“They took half of the tumor out under my arm, and it came back as Hodgkin’s Lymphoma,” recalled fellow honorary captain Chelsea Mathelier.
Some have already fought the fight and won. The march toward midfield reminded them of how far they had come.
“It did,” she said. “The whole weekend sent me back through a whole other processing of it all for sure.”
The Panthers set it all up and treated them like stars. There were meet-and-greets with players. and then of course, the game itself: a come-from-behind Carolina win, a reminder to always “Keep Pounding.”
“They let them know look, giving up is not an option,” said Champion.
That’s what they took from the day. The struggle isn’t over. Hope is never lost.
“My cancer is incurable for me, just for now,” Champion said. “But they’ll have a cure for me one day.”
No, there’s nothing about six grown adults all in football gear. That is what the heart is all about.