OSU football players visit kids at Shriner's Hospital for Children

Motivated by player Mitchel Hunt, football team heads

Six members of the OSU football team took time away from Corvallis to visit patients at the Shriner's Hospital for Children in Portland last Saturday.

Team members Will Darkins, Mitchel Hunt, Justin Kahut, Castro Masaniai, Sioeli Nau and Marcus Perry brought smiles to the patients and families with their visit.

The players chatted with everyone they visited including the parents and staff members who were around. They also signed OSU football T-shirts and gave them out to everybody who asked - even to the children who were not able to see them that day.

Christina Paggetti, volunteer and events coordinator for the hospital, was very pleased the players decided to come. She said while it does not happen often, it is always a treat to have a sports team visit the hospital.

"It's just so boring to be in a hospital for a kid," Paggetti said.

The players had some fun in the recreation area playing ping-pong with one patient and cars with another.

They later went to the room of one young man who was unable to get out of bed due to a condition in his leg, and the players spoke with him about topics ranging from music to sports.

"It's awesome; he has been very down lately," said Sue Wood, the patient's mother.

While the young man said he does not watch a lot of football, he is an avid hockey fan and enjoyed giving some of the football players a lesson on the sport.

Tasha Hines is the mother of a small boy who was all smiles and energy, especially when he spotted the players.

"This means a lot to him; this is amazing. He's been coming here since he was a baby," Hines said on the players' visit. "To have the team come means a lot to me and the other parents."

Another young man befriended the team and was able to follow them around for their visit, talking and joking with the players the whole time.

Hunt was the one who came up with the idea for the visit a couple of weeks ago. He explained that whenever the team traveled to a bowl game, certain members of the team would visit a hospital. He said he had not been chosen yet to go on one of those visits, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.

Hunt met Kaci Sintek, an agricultural business management major, in class and found out that she had volunteered at Shriner's over the summer. He contacted Sintek and together they arranged the visit.

"I was surprised; it was really cool for him to go out of his way," Sintek said. "You think football players are so cool, but if they get down on one knee and talk to a child, it's the coolest thing ever, to see them step out of the stereotype that they're in."

The visit started off with a video presentation on children suffering from medical conditions and how they cope and another one explaining how children who are sick still enjoy the same activities as many other kids.

The Shriner's Hospital specializes in children with bone, muscle and joint disorders. They offer their services at no cost to the parents.

"We have never sent an invoice in 86 years of service," Paggetti said.

Paggetti also explained that they are there for the patients for as long as they need care.

The staff was very proud of how the players interacted with the patients and the families.

"They did great; they did super," Paggetti said. "We would love to have them back."

The experience proved to be as rewarding to the players as it was for the patients.

"It was a lot of fun. I have a whole new perspective on children's hospitals," Darkins said.



Rebecca Johnson, staff writer news@dailybarometer.com, 737-2231