BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — Players from the Florida Panthers took a break from the ice to hang out with pediatric patients at Broward Health this afternoon.
Several players from the Panthers spent the day painting and playing video games and cornhole with pediatric patients at the hospital for an early Valentine's Day gift.
Florida Panthers players spend day with pediatric patients
The kids said it’s a dream to meet the players they admire.
"It means a lot to me meeting some pretty cool people,” said Nehemiah Kelly, who has been at Broward Health for the past few days after suffering several seizures due to complications with his epilepsy.
"It was a little scary at first. It was devastating, but I think I'm doing better. It was nice seeing some nice people. It was great," said Kelly, who spent the day on the sticks with Sam Bennett.
"It's pretty special. We're so fortunate in our situation to be able to make a kid's day just by saying hi or giving them a card," Bennett.
Many of the kids at Broward Health could not come to the party because they were sick. So, players painted cards for the kids to collect when they got better.
A small gesture with a significant impact.
"This is a core memory for a nine-year-old to have,” said Daneri Edelson, mother of Dylan Edelson.
He’s a nine-year-old from Parkland who called this facility home for the past six months.
"Dylan had stage three Hodgkin's Lymphoma," said Daneri, who remembers the life-changing day. "The morning of his ninth birthday, we were out on a cruise. He woke up with a lump."
The family took him to the ship's hospital. Initially, they believed it was a hernia.
"The next day, he woke up in excruciating pain," said Daneri.
Doctors informed the family Dylan had stage three Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
For five to six months, Dylan and the team at Broward Health worked to get his cancer in remission. Last week, Dylan was able to ring the bell.
Matthew Tkachuk on the importance of spending time with kids like Dylan
He even got pretty cool news.
"Tkachuk sent me this message when I rang the bell, and he gave me a signed jersey," said Dylan.
In the video tribute to Dylan, Matthew Tkachuk congratulated Dylan and said he couldn't wait to meet him; a week later, Dylan was playing hockey with his favorite player.
"I was like, oh my god," said Dylan.
It was an out-of-body experience for Dylan but a moment Tkachuk will never forget.
"We just have no idea what some of these kids are going through on the day-to-day basis. For myself and the rest of my teammates to come here today and just put a smile on their faces for a little bit of the day means so much to us."
While Dylan was short on words, his mom wanted to thank the Panthers players.
"The unimaginable that we went through with him, and his memories aren't just sad, he's never going to forget this," said Daneri.
