Thanks to Twitter, cancer-stricken girls basketball player meets LeBron
ricken girls basketball player meets LeBron
MAR 29, 2014 10:30p
Jeffrey Phelps / Associated Press
Ebony Nettles-Bey takes a shot during warm-ups next to
Miami's LeBron James before the Heat's game against the Bucks on Saturday in
Milwaukee.
MILWAUKEE -- The power of Twitter was on display Saturday
night, as a dream came true thanks to the Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat.
The Twitter hashtag, #LeBronMeetEbony, went viral in
February, as the community rallied around a cancer-struck standout athlete.
Ebony Nettles-Bey, a girls basketball player for Verona High
School, not only got to meet her hero on Saturday, but she also led the Heat
onto the court for warmups and shot around with LeBron James.
"I couldn't say anything," Nettles-Bey told FOX
Sports Wisconsin. "I just started crying, tears of joy."
Nettles-Bey has stage-four Rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of
cancer in the soft tissues of the body. She's played through the treatments and
chemotherapy, averaging 4.3 points per game for Verona this past season. An
all-conference player for Madison West High School as a sophomore before
transferring to Verona for her junior season, Nettles-Bey reportedly made a
verbal commitment to UW-Milwaukee before getting sick.
"I didn't need to meet her to understand and know how
strong she was," James said. "But it's great to be around her and see
her enthusiasm even with what she's dealing with. It's like she doesn't even
have it. It's not going to stop her. That's a very unique trait."
James said he found out about Nettles-Bey a couple of months
ago. But because she couldn't travel and the Heat were busy with their
schedule, Saturday night was the first time he could make a meeting happen.
"Basketball is a small part of our lives," James
said. "The way that it can impact someone else's life, that puts it all in
perspective. What she's going through every single day; the challenges she's
facing every single day with the Stage 4 cancer that she has, she's the
stronger one out of us two. She's unbelievable, and for me to be someone that
her last wish is to meet me, that's a 'Wow' factor. It puts it all in
perspective knowing I have that much influence and that much strength for
someone to say that if I have one opportunity
Jeffrey Phelps-Associated Press
LeBron James laces up his shoes after writing an
inspirational message to cancer-stricken fan Ebony Nettles-Bey on them before
Saturday's game in Milwaukee.
"I'm thinking, 'Why not go to Disney World?' or why not
do something way cooler. Why me? Why would you want to meet me as your last
wish? It's a blessing. It's truly a blessing. It's an unbelievable thing for
her, and I'm happy I'm in a position to be able to fulfill someone's dream.
It's really, really cool."
James signed a shoe for Nettles-Bey and wrote,
"#CancerWho" and "Ebony Strong" on the side opposite his
signature. She then stood next to the Miami superstar for the National Anthem
before taking her courtside seat provided by the Bucks.
"It was a conversation that you have like with an
everyday person . . . it was like, unexplainable," Nettles-Bey said.
"He didn't really say too much, just I couldn't leave until I make a
shot."
Nettles-Bey said the doctors have told her that she's doing
well and that her tumors are shrinking.
"Just faith and that's it," Nettles-Bey said as to
how she's stayed strong. "Just hope that I beat it and keep
fighting."
And what does she want to do when she beats cancer?
"Play in the WNBA," Nettles-Bey said.
Follow Andrew Gruman on Twitter
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