Evan Nolte retweetledi
This picture with Tony Bennett and my daughter, Kayla, was 5 years ago today. It changed my life and gave hope to Kayla at an extremely difficult moment. Here is a short summary:
* Kayla was diagnosed with gastroparesis (paralysis of the stomach) with the underlying cause of mitochondrial disease in 2012.
* When this pic was taken, she had endured over 50 hospital admissions and over 100 visits to the ER.
* She got a gastric pacer at Nationwide Children’s in Columbus, OH, was able to finish high school, played basketball on the private school team, then went to the University of Lynchburg and served as a student assistant manager on their WBB team.
* In 2018, she had her 5th sepsis infection and almost died. After recovering she went back to Lynchburg to work the summer in the athletic department.
* A few days after returning to Lynchburg, a roommate invited a young guy to their house. Kayla visited with him, then went up to her room, where she hooked up to her artificial nutrition by IV. This guy followed her up about 20 minutes later and violently assaulted her.
* She pressed charges, endured over a year trial and finally he got a 20 year sentence with 12 1/2 suspended. She then began to advocate for the approximately 20 other women who were victimized by this psychopath.
* All this took a toll on her health and she withdrew from college in early 2020. On our way back from Lynchburg, we stopped by the Boars Head Inn and met Tony as he was conducting his coaches show. The next day, @DaveKoehnPxP reached out because Tony wanted to know more about Kayla’s story. I relayed the story to Dave.
* A few days later, we went to the Syracuse game and arrived early. We were standing by the court and Ronnie Wideman approached us. “Tony would like to talk to you all before the game.” I was expecting a short greeting in the tunnel as he game out to the court.
* Instead, a few minutes later, we were taken up to Tony’s office. FCA chaplain, George Morris was there with Tony. Tipoff was 30 minutes away.
* Tony said, “Kayla, after I met you on Wednesday night, I went home and told my wife Laurel that I met a sister in Christ tonight. We may not see each other again in this life, but I know we will see each other in heaven.”
* As I sat there with tears streaming down my face, George Morris gave such a moving and heartfelt prayer.
Kayla continues on with her journey. She is currently on palliative care but moments like these provide such hope to her, to me and to all her loved ones. This experience confirmed to me how unique UVA basketball was and it fueled a passion to support however I could. I love Tony Bennett for how he lived out his faith as a coach, and I still believe the platform of college athletics can be used to accomplish incredible good. God bless you Tony Bennett! We still support @UVAMensHoops with all our heart.
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