Friends and Readers,
I wanted to take a moment and thank you all for keeping up with this special last week for Lucky McMahon. I hope that each day you learned something new, and were filled with some hope by the end of the week. Despite these being dark times with the Corona virus/COVID19, I hope that you at least got a smile with everything that was going down. To recap each article:
Day 1: Lucky 101. A look at Lucky, his health situation, future outlook, and a brief look at how much he loves the Cubs
Day 2: Lucky's Cubs Fandom. A look at all of his cool stuff, his growing baseball card collection, and just how much baseball means to Lucky.
Day 3: Lucky Visits Wrigley Field. Lucky's gone to Wrigley a couple of times, but got to go on the field for the 2018 NL Central tiebreaker game.
Day 4: Lucky Meets Ben Zobrist. At a memorabilia shop in January, Ben Zobrist drives through hours of snow to find Lucky waiting for him at the front of the line.
Day 5: Lucky's Love Letter to Javy Baez. Lucky shares his love and adoration for his favorite player, Javier Báez. Javy is likely who inspired Lucky to take steps without his walker.
It was a really great week. It was an emotional roller coaster learning about Lucky, reaching out, interviewing, and writing all these stories. His health problems are gut wrenching, but his love for baseball and cheerful attitude was inspiring. For me, Lucky is a great reminder in a tough, baseball-less time of the importance of sports. Lucky might have been born with Hydrocephalus, and has ongoing challenges because of it, but he hasn't let that dampen his spirit. He's a light that shines to all, especially us Cubs fans.
I mentioned these follow up steps at the end of each article, but just wanted to highlight them one more time.
• Lucky has an awesome Facebook support page. Please follow for regular updates!
• Contributing to the Hydrocephalus Association. In September, Lucky's mom Paula will be holding the first Hydrocephalus Walk on September 26th 2020 in the Decatur IL area to raise funds to help bring awareness and to help find a cure. • Lucky LOVES baseball cards. Lots of people will send him baseball cards. He loves getting surprise packages of Cubs stuff. It really makes his heart smile. If you have something to send him, let me know, and I can get you his address. • Finally, a family friend put together a GoFundMe for Lucky's upcoming dental surgery. In this complicated age of health insurance, Lucky will incur about $2000+ worth of dental bills that insurance won't touch. This week, we raised $750! I'm very proud of you all for supporting a kid you don't know in uncertain economic times. Lucky's mom will have to put down a lot of money for Lucky's surgery on April 3rd. If you can and want to give by then, it would go a long way for their family.
Thanks again for helping make this a special week! Take care and stay safe! -Pronk