http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/sports/5770505.html Dynamo duo brought joy to brave youngster By RICHARD JUSTICE Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle You don't know me, and I don't know you. But we both know Stuart Holden and Craig Waibel." That's how Bob Piniewski's e-mail to the Dynamo began last month. What followed were parallel stories of unspeakable sadness and boundless appreciation, of loss and life weaved together. If you were ever inclined to put professional athletes on a pedestal, you can begin here. On Father's Day 2007, Piniewski's 14-year-old son, A.J., was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Burkitt's lymphoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. He lived only six months. During that time, A.J. displayed courage and grace beyond words. He lifted spirits and touched lives. He'd been a terrific athlete, a soccer and football player, a track star. He once scored the winning goal in a championship hockey game. "He was so happy he was shaking," Bob Piniewski remembered. He'd once amazed doctors by coming back so quickly from knee surgery, and maybe some of the toughness and resilience he showed in sports was on display when he fought a fight he couldn't win. He got lucky a few times, too. Like when he met a couple of soccer players. Holden and Waibel dropped by A.J.'s room during one of those first stays at Texas Children's Hospital, and a friendship was born. It would be neither the first nor last for A.J. in those final months. Another was Dr. Pat Thompson. "He wasn't our doctor," Bob Piniewski said the other day. "He just started hanging out and became our buddy. He gave A.J. heck for switching from soccer to football and said he was going to get him to switch back. He was so sincere and kind." Start of a friendship It was Thompson who asked Holden and Waibel to visit A.J. Maybe you think this is one of those stories where the athletes pay a perfunctory visit to a sick kid and move on down the road. That's not what happened. They visited again and again, exchanged e-mails and telephone calls, learned about A.J.'s life while telling him something of theirs. They could not save A.J.'s life, but they could make what life he had left better. They talked about everything from soccer to food to fear. A.J.'s pain was relentless, but those visits brought some light into cancer's terrifying darkness. "I think it's having someone be sociable, be their friend, not just sign an autograph and leave," Holden said. "It's having someone to talk to." Bob Piniewski thinks it was all that and then some. "They see what these kids are going through, the pain and fear, and they ultimately take some of that on themselves," he said. "Both those guys will be in my thoughts forever. I just can't tell you what it means to have a little joy brought into a kid's life at that point. It was kind and thoughtful and loving." Last fall after the Dynamo won a second straight championship, Holden brought the MLS Cup to A.J.'s room during his final stay at TCH. A.J. kissed the cup, and he and Holden caught up on things. When it was time to go, Holden started to leave and stopped. What he did then is something A.J.'s dad still has trouble describing. Holden took the MLS gold medal from around his neck — his Super Bowl ring, his World Series ring — and placed it on A.J.'s. "I want to give you this," he said. A.J. shook his head. "I can't accept this," he said. Holden told him the medal was his and that was that. "Thank you so much," A.J. told him. Holden told A.J. a story behind the medal, about how he'd broken the ribbon during the championship celebration and had to go into the stands to get a safety pin from his mom to repair it. Now the medal that represented so much hard work and sacrifice and accomplishment was A.J.'s. Somehow, it seemed fitting. "We laughed and cried," Bob Piniewski said. So four months after A.J.'s death, Piniewski sat down and wrote the Dynamo to tell them two of their guys had made a difference in a young man's life. They had given of their time and their heart, and he wanted Oliver Luck and Dominic Kinnear to know the kind of people that represent the franchise. When I telephoned Holden, he'd just arrived at TCH for a round of visits. Showing that you care "I've met a lot of families and a lot of great people," he said. "A.J. and his family just touched me in a different way. They're a great family, and A.J. was trying his hardest to beat the disease. I think he knew what was happening, but he was trying. It reminded me of something every athlete would hope he'd do in that situation. I've visited kids that had never heard of the Dynamo, and they still react. They want to know you care." Bob Piniewski is dealing with a grief that's fresh and raw and smothering. He deals with it every hour of every day and always will. "They're amazing guys, both of them," he said of Holden and Waibel. "Not only do they take the time out of there of their really busy schedule to come see these kids. Most importantly, they really care. It's not an easy thing." In recent weeks, Bob Piniewski has told hundreds of people about A.J. and Stuart Holden and Craig Waibel. He has reminded people that small gestures can have a huge impact. "They helped him forget for a while," Bob Piniewski said. "They helped him imagine. He always told me he'd hold a championship cup someday, and Stuart made it possible. He helped him realize a dream. Those things are so important." During a recent charity event at TCH, Bob Piniewski presented Holden with a gold medal A.J. had won in a championship soccer game when he was 8. "I hope it means as much to him as the one he gave A.J.," he wrote the Dynamo. "Knowing him, I bet it means more." Since A.J.'s death, Bob Piniewski has worked to bring attention to childhood cancer and to a book in which parents tell their kids' stories. His Web site can be found at www.thepetitionsite.com/1/CureChildhoodCancer. Listen to Richard Justice weekdays from 10 a.m.-noon on 1560 AM. richard.justice@chron.com
