MORE THAN JUST A BASEBALL GAME!

For me, Fenway Park is a very special place. On Wednesday August 8 2012, Ryan Dempster made it even more special. Whenever I go to Fenway, I am there right when they open the door. So when I went to the game on August 8, 2012, it was no different. Except it was different on that day. When I go into the park, I usually hang out at the third base visiting team dugout to see the players, watch batting practice and try and get autographs. But on this day, there was only one thing on my mind. I was going there to hopefully meet Ryan Dempster and just get a picture with him. The day before I made a sign saying RYAN DEMPSTER: LIVING WITH 22Q FOR 22 YEARS. I usually don’t make signs but I wanted Ryan to notice me as there were a lot of other fans there. When he came out of the dugout, you knew he was looking for someone because he knew where to look. Then he came out and started to walk, I was in the third row from the field. He told me to come down to where he was. After climbing over two rows, he gave me a huge bear hug, like we had known each other for years and yet we only just met. At that time my dad had my camera and took a picture of us. I was holding a baseball and a pen, which I forgot that I had but he signed it. That’s when it became surreal. There were about 30,000 people there and at that time it felt like it was just him and me. I remember what we talked about, just not in the order that we did. As I was talking to him, I forgot that he was a pitcher for the Texas Rangers. Usually I have a hard time talking to people I just met, but I think because we had a personal connection with 22Q, it made it easier. Ryan, there are no words to explain how thankful I am for what you did. I know we only talked for about five minutes, but those five minutes truly made an impact on my life. From now on whenever I hear Ryan Dempster, I will not think of the major league baseball player, I will think of Ryan, a  person who changed my life! Read more about Colleen here.

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