Husker Football: Noah Needs Your Help

I’d like to tell you a story, Husker football fans. This story is about a four-year-old boy named Noah.

Noah is a microcosm of childhood, much like another one of the littlest members of Husker Nation, Jack Hoffman. Noah’s the cute kid with a great smile up top there.. He loves to play soccer and baseball (he’s a big Chicago Cubs fan).

He also recently had a tumor the size of a cantaloupe in his abdomen.

Since the evening of May 21, Noah has struggled to live. He’s been too weak to walk, the color drained from his face and it’s as if his body is rebelling against him. There has been test after test, IVs hooked up left and right and finally surgery.

This past Tuesday was a good day for Noah. He felt better, stronger and as a little boy should. However, with that good news came the horrific.

Love for Noah

Noah has cancer.

Neuroblastoma to be exact. I’ll leave out the details, but suffice it to say that it most often occurs in young ones like Noah and doesn’t waste time in spreading.

Obviously, his family is devastated. His father can’t stop hurting. As he watches his four-year-old wonder suffer, he can only ask, “why?”

The kid just wanted to…well, be a kid. He wanted to play baseball, run around the bases and have fun. That’s what four-year-olds do, right? Have fun?

Suffice it to say that Noah and his family are in for a long battle, to put it mildly. Many have rallied around them (I am proud to call myself one) to help.

A website’s been set up for those who wish to donate to the cause of helping them, but I’m not going to ask you to do that.

I’m going to ask you to take a few seconds out of your day to click the link, see what Husker Nation is doing for one of the youngest of its own and make your own decision. My feelings for my friend, his family and most importantly Noah have prompted me to bring their story to you.

Click, read for a bit and take in what I’ve told you. I’ve seen what the power of Husker Nation has done for Jack Hoffman and those beyond him.

Another little one needs help.

Update: A timeline has been established for staging Noah’s disease. He is scheduled to have a comprehensive imaging study done at UNMC over three days next week. A biopsy and port installation surgery are scheduled for June 9.

Update from Noah’s dad: “Treatment protocols for each staging are standardized by the Children’s Oncology Group (see here). Noah would receive the same treatments at Children’s here in Omaha that he would in Memphis. His oncologist, Dr. Minnie Abromowitch, spent 12 years at St. Jude’s and has treated “hundreds” of children with Neuroblastoma.

I think there is also something to be said for home field advantage here in Omaha. We have a lot more resources here in Omaha available to us. Noah will be able to sleep in his own bed when not at the hospital. Stuff like that. That being said, and please God forbid it, if he does receive an Advanced staging, this is something we will strongly consider.”

For more updates and information on how you can help, an account has been set up on Twitter to follow along Noah’s path to recovery.