UT football players help spread courage

Devin Woodby has been coming into the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital for almost two years, so in many ways Thursday was just another day. He couldn’t sit still, he crawled on the floor and he laughed a lot.

The big difference Thursday, was his audience. Woodby and a handful of other patients spent time with University of Tennessee football players as the players volunteered in the Beads of Courage program Thursday afternoon.

Patients apart of the Beads of Courage program collect beads every time they have an appointment, get blood drawn or lose their hair due to chemotherapy treatment. Any event can earn a bead. Beads of Courage is an international organization that provides supportive care programs for children with serious illness.

The program has partnered with UT football players for four years. They wear a special orange power T bead on their uniforms during a game and gift the bead and a handwritten note to a patient.

Ashley Ethridge is the director of programs and operations for Beads of Courage in Canada. She said the hospital offers the Beads of Courage program to patients in the neonatal intensive care unit, those with chronic conditions and those in hematology/oncology care.

“Our goal is to make what’s invisible, visible,” she said. “So the players could come and say, ‘Hey man, you’re courageous.’ But when they come and give the (children) a bead of courage that they carried, how much more meaningful is that?”

Woodby was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, two weeks before his second birthday. He’s three now and getting better, his mom, Amanda, said. Days like Thursday when he was making beads with sophomore Brian Garvey, help, she said.

“He loves doing this and he was all excited about football players,” she said. “He really enjoys it, and I enjoy watching him do it because it’s not him getting poked or (taking) medicine, so he likes it.”

UT redshirt freshman Riley Lovingood participated in the Beads of Courage program last year. He said he remembers meeting patients before a game and said being a small part of their recovery means a lot.

“These kids actually face way more struggles and way more adversity than we could ever go through, and football — it’s just a game,” he said. “These kids here are dealing with real life stuff and so it’s really a blessing for us to be able to come back, and it really makes my day and makes my week.”

Early enrollee freshman Trey Smith spent time holding Paizley Hatcher, a seven-month-old-baby-girl who spent her first three months in the hospital’s NICU. Afterward he said the experience was humbling.

“It really puts some perspective on what these kids are really going through, and it really makes you think about the things I work on (that) aren’t really that hard. These kids are really fighting for their lives, so it really puts some perspective on life,” he said.