Mavs Support Little Fan
Hockey community helps Ford family deal with setback
By Shane Frederick
Free Press Staff Writer
MANKATO — Anthony Ford isn't afraid of showing off how much he loves hockey.
"He's been a huge hockey fan ever since he was small," the 7-year-old's mother, Robin Ford, said. "When he's not playing, he's always rooting his teammates on.
"You can hear him cheering from across the ice."
Now, those teammates and others throughout the Mankato hockey community - including the Minnesota State men's and women's teams - are rooting for Anthony.
Six weeks ago, just a few hours after his first hockey practice of the season, Anthony was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Because of a chromosome abnormality, the Monroe Elementary School second-grader's disease is a rare case. He has been undergoing chemotherapy treatments and will eventually need a bone marrow transplant.
As a tribute to Anthony, all Mankato hockey players - from the Mankato Area Youth Hockey Association to the high schools to MSU - have been wearing stickers on their helmets with Anthony's initials.
"Everyone is pulling for him," Mavericks sophomore Kurtis Kisio said. "We draw inspiration from what he's going through. What we go through on the ice is not half the battle that he's going through every day."
Anthony was diagnosed on Oct. 30. Early that Saturday, his parents decided to take him to urgent care because of swollen lymph nodes.
"He just had to go to hockey practice first," Robin Ford said with a laugh.
After practice, Anthony saw a doctor and had blood drawn. When the results came in, Robin and Mike Ford were left speechless.
"We went to lunch and when we got back, they said, 'Go home. Get your bags packed. Go to St. Mary's (Hospital in Rochester). They're waiting for you,'" Robin said. "That was the longest hour and 45-minute drive we've ever had."
Kisio, coach Troy Jutting and two other players visited Anthony in Rochester a couple of days after the boy was admitted.
Anthony called the visit "cool," and talked about the sweatshirts, the autographed sticks and the Lance Armstrong "LIVESTRONG" bracelets the players brought for him and his family.
During a weekend at home, Anthony spent an hour with Kisio before a Mavericks game, touring the team's locker room and watching warm-ups from the bench.
"The least we can do is show our support for that guy," said sophomore Chris Clark, who went to St. Mary's along with Kisio and senior Jake Brenk. "He's one of the toughest little kids I've met. I know he's going to pull through. He's something special."
Robin Ford said the support the entire hockey community has shown Anthony, who was only in his second year of organized hockey, has been "almost overwhelming."
The MSU women's team sent him an autographed Mavericks jersey with his name on the back. He's also received items from the high school teams. MAHA has a pancake breakfast benefit in the works for Jan. 15. And a savings account has been set up for Anthony at Community Bank.
"I never expected anything like that, nothing like that at all," Robin Ford said. "It's unbelievable, the support we've had."
Said Jutting: "I think hockey, in general, is a very tight-knit community, not only in Mankato but around the country.
"We want to do what we can to help."
Anthony has spent much of the last six weeks in the hospital, undergoing chemotherapy, spinal taps and getting his bone marow tested.
He has also followed the Mavericks, listening to games via internet on a laptop computer in his hospital room.
He is expected to come home this weekend and might attend one of this weekend's men's games against second-ranked Wisconsin.
According to his mother, the cancer is going into remission. If it's in full remission and a bone marrow donor can be found, he could get ready for a transplant in January.