Now, I wanted to share more about what I posted on Facebook about the Wings hockey player. (Here come the tears again) As I've said many times, since Trey was 2 all he's wanted to do is play hockey. You see my posts, you all know the obsession and love that he has. He's had many favorite players over the years. Jordan Heller and Ronnie Hein were the top two dudes. He claimed to be a Tucker fan, but that was only because Tucker lived at daycare. A quiet kid named Ethan Stewart joined the favorite list last year but was traded to the Kenai River Brown Bears (Alaskan Team) a few weeks ago leaving Trey studying who he could root for next. There is a kid, Joey Strada, whom Trey likes "because he is little". (Seriously, what's with him liking these little dudes?? Trevor Pray is his favorite Groton Tiger "because he is little") Joey also played preseason for the Waterloo Blackhawks so that peaked Trey's interest too.
Saturday night we were at the game and saw a new name on the roster - Trey Bagwell. As my Trey was reading over the page looking at the names, he found Trey's (TB we will call him to avoid confusion) name and was excited. We looked for him during warm-ups and Trey claimed "He's my favorite!"
Fast forward to Monday. I am on Twitter reading things and I run across Trey Bagwell's Twitter page and there I see it, his post about being diaganosed with T1D 5 years ago. I gasped, eyes welled up with tears and my heart raced. What are the odds? I took a screen shot and sent it to Jordan and his sister, Jessica. I then wrote a message to TB that said, "My son is 5, also named Trey, loves hockey and was diaganosed in March. We would love to chat with you!" He responded right away and said I could DM (direct message) him and he would be happy to answer any questions I may have. Through my tears, I typed up a message and explained a little about who we are, Trey's passion for the game, his love for "his hockey boys" and that this was a message straight from above. I told TB that my first question after the diaganoses was if he could play hockey. TB wrote me back a very nice message. He hasn't let T1D stop him from playing, it's not always easy, but it becomes second nature. He wears his Dexcom G5 (same as Trey!) during the game and the trainer watches his numbers. He will drink grape juice or eat skittles during the games if he is too low. He said "soon enough he will be my age inspiring young kids as well." And this momma bawled and bawled. He asked if he could meet Trey the next home game (Nov 12th) and talk to him.
I was so excited to tell Trey when he got home from school. His eyes got big and smile appeared while Delanie jumped up and down saying how cool that was! I saw today that TB shoots left, same as Trey and his birthday is March 17th, just three days after our diaganoses. I mean, c'mon, how can this NOT be God's work?? Kid gets sent to Aberdeen a week before my own kid starts hockey and all these similarities ... Seriously. It gives me goosebumps and puts tears in my eyes. I cannot wait for Trey to meet Trey. I have no doubts that this will be yet another life-long friendship.
Today I received a message from Betty, TB's mother, and she offered her support as well. The hockey world is a world like none other. It has brought so many people into our life that we never would've met. Now it gave us TB - a real life hero who fights for his life every day just like my own son and an inspiration for Trey to know that you can do anything you want to do. Diabetes won't stop you!!!!!
Thank you, God - message was received loud and clear and I promise to never, ever forget it.
