Sometimes it’s easy to forget that professional athletes are people too, especially superstars like Peyton Manning.
While we seem them elevated on a football field every Sunday, they deal with the same issues close to our hearts – which is probably one of the reasons that Peyton Manning decided to treat a woman and her family to a once in a lifetime experience this past weekend as the Denver Broncos hosted the Baltimore Ravens.
Kari Barnett Bollig, an Indianapolis native, currently has stage 4 cancer.
A big Peyton Manning fan from his days with the Colts, Bollig wrote the Broncos quarterback and he wasn’t about to let that letter go unanswered. That’s when he invited Kari and her family to Denver.
Kari got the call. That you had read her letter and wanted to meet her.
“I kind of stammered and stuttered around,” Kari said. “And then I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ “
It was no joke. This past weekend, Kari was treated to two days at Mile High Stadium in Denver, where she watched Broncos players get their team photos taken Saturday, sat in on walk-through practices, took a tour of the facility.
She was given tickets to the Broncos vs. Ravens game Sunday and sideline passes for before the game — all left for her by you. Your name is right there on the envelope; never mind an “l” is missing from her last name.
Because when she met you, well, her heart melted.
“He walked right over after he got his picture taken,” Kari said. “It was so sweet because he shakes my hand and says, ‘I’m Peyton Manning.’ It was cute. It was kind of like, ‘I know who you are Peyton.’ “
You spent 10 minutes with Kari and her husband of 12 years, Ed (who, in a tragic twist, lost his first wife to breast cancer). You talked to her. You took her mind off of cancer, just for a bit.
“It was real easy and laid back, not at all nervewracking,” she said. “He’s welcoming. He’s like a gentle giant. It was such a personal moment. It was a once in a lifetime thing.”
As if we needed any more reason to love Peyton Manning.
H/T IndyStar
