Bryan Rutland, a fellow student and a player on the team, initially landed Emanuel his job as a coach. He did so because he could see something in Emanuel that was unique, something he thought the team could use themselves:
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He’s a coach — he’s my coach. He has this great moxie about him, and he always knows the right thing to say. He’s in a guy’s ear after a tough play or a tough practice. He’s so inspirational.
When you think about yourself and you feel down, man, other people are going through worse. I don’t complain about anything anymore. Against North Central I had a fever, 103 (degrees), and I didn’t tell anybody. Everybody’s sick, everybody has a fever.
Emmanuel is going through something way worse than a fever. I just played. It was raining and cold. I just played. Look at Emanuel! He’s so upbeat. He doesn’t talk about it.
What he’s going through has a name. It’s Duchenne muscular dystrophy – a disease which turns muscle into fat. His mother first noticed something was wrong when he started dragging his foot along the floor 6 years ago, and – as is the norm for this debilitating and eventually fatal disease – things have rapidly deteriorated since. Duchenne muscular dystrophy eats away at the body at an unpredictable pace, and there’s no sure-fire way to tell how much longer a patient might have left. That is, until it reaches the heart. Usually one of the last muscles that the disease hunts down, it’s the one that will eventually seal their fate. In recent weeks Emanuel has been suffering with an irregular heartbeat – a specialist is now involved.
But still, Emanuel continues fighting. He’s thinking ahead, to his career as a coach for a major sports team. Maybe one day he could work with the likes of his hero, LeBron James. Although he may not have any plans of giving up, that’s not to say he hasn’t got a bucket list. Because, like most of us, he has. He’s been to ESPN’s campus in Bristol, Conn., thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and he’s talked with Stephen A. Smith, a renowned sports journalist. Emanuel has seen the cars and the mechanics of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He joined a wheelchair soccer team, with whom he travelled to Florida for a tournament. And whilst he was there he scored a goal. All these have been items on his bucket list, and they have all been firmly crossed off. But one remains thing still remains:
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My [final] bucket list is to meet LeBron. That’s the one thing I want to do. Meet LeBron James. That’s my role model. He inspires me to do everything. To be a good person, to put other people first, to live your life and do what makes you happy. If I meet LeBron James, that would make my day. I wouldn’t ask for anything.
Well, LeBron heard about Emanuel’s story – and he had something to say to the young inspiration:
LeBron's letter to Emanuel. Don't ever say LeBron is no hero. Not to me. LeBron saw this: https://t.co/H4KdwxCEdg pic.twitter.com/hD34HAMQOj
— Gregg Doyel (@GreggDoyelStar) November 13, 2015
Clearly not just a great basketball player, but a great guy also. However, I’m not going to spend a lot of time talking about LeBron. What he did is absolutely remarkable, of course, but I don’t want to detract from the message that we can all draw from Emanuel himself. This kid is an inspiration and deserves media attention on own his merit alone, he doesn’t need celebrity endorsement. That being said, you can still bet it made his week to hear from his idol. He sent a message to the journalist who’s article first attracted LeBron’s attention:
https://twitter.com/GreggDoyelStar/status/665211756889939968/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Both LeBron and, more importantly, Emanuel proving that there is still plenty of goodness left in the world, just that sometimes we may have to make our own. If you still need cheering up though, take a look at one of the more positive stories to come out of the Paris tragedy this past weekend.
