The young men of the Wichita State Baseball team used to feel like their legacy was going to be determined by the number of hits or wins that their team amassed. After they made their first trip with One Spark to visit sick children; they were expecting to be the blessing but were surprised to find they were the ones being blessed.
The second visit to the hospital changed not only the team, but many people from the One Spark Foundation, the media, hospital staff and many of the sick children. The young men went into a little girls room that was fighting cancer; her name was Hannah. Hannah asked Dave and one of the baseball players if she could shave their heads. Dave was reluctant at first until one of the team members said, “come on, lets do it for Hannah.” Eleven of the young men that day shaved their heads in what we call, “Hope for Hannah.”
It became a club of bald headed young men. They wore their badge of honor (their shaved head) with pride and told everyone they ran into about Hannah and her fight. You see, it just wasn’t Hannah that day that was blessed. We went into many rooms filled with sick kids that seemed to be uplifted by our shaved heads.
The WSU baseball team made it clear that day, they weren’t only shaving their head for Hannah but for every sick child struggling to survive. A week later we went back with the rest of the team and coaching staff and they all shaved their heads in the courtyard of Wesley Hospital. Those saving their heads were the sick children of the hospital who at that day, at that moment, forgot they were sick.
A huge thanks to Coach Tod Butler for his willingness to serve his community and to teach these young men, the true meaning of success will not be found on a baseball field. It will be found on a young person’s heart that they choose to serve.