Ryan Grant is admittedly bored out of his mind. In crutches since his ankle surgery in September, he misses his day job -- running past linebackers for the Green Bay Packers.

So hes checking his e-mail more than usual. And on Friday when he saw one message forwarded to him about an 11-year old Packers fan with an advanced stage of leukemia, he asked his agents to buy a ton of Packers stuff. Then he planned a trip to Milwaukee. For the next day.

Do you think I can spend some time with him or does it have to be quick? Grant wanted to know.

The relationship between the Packers and their fans has always been special. Grant was going to make the time and the effort to give this boy a story to share with his friends. A friend of the boy's family, Mark Winters, and Grant, through his agents, began planning a surprise visit.

But this is a story that will break your heart. Because even though theres always a winner every day in the sports pages, there are still unconscionable facts of life that bring us even star athletes -- back to reality.

And back to the oncology unit at Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin, where the thought of little kids fighting for their lives brings up all kinds of questions of fairness and all kinds of regret about sweating the small stuff. And where Ryan Luxem has spent way too much of his time.

Sweet faced and apple cheeked, Luxem had six healthy years. Thats it. A swollen lymph node led to the diagnosis of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia on May 2, 2006.

He and his parents, Matt and Amy, from Union Grove, have been regulars at Childrens ever since. They fought the leukemia with chemotherapy and radiation, but it came back in 2008, 2009 and February of this year. Hes had bone marrow transplants. Hes endured painful stomach aches and failing kidney function.

But there was a real boy in there -- and not just a hospital patient -- and so Ryan loves dinosaurs, origami and the Green Bay Packers, especially Donald Driver, Aaron Rodgers and of course, Grant.

Winters sent an e-mail for help to boost Ryan's spirits. And while Grant wishes he were giving the Packers another 1,200 yard season, he jumped at the chance to do something. Anything. So as Grants teammates were busy preparing for the upcoming Vikings game in Minnesota, he took the two hour ride from Green Bay to Wauwatosa, where he was met by his agents from Elite Sports & Public Relations and a bag full of goodies. The Crowne Plaza hotel held a MACC Fund dinner Saturday night and the Luxem family attended. The hotel lent a room to Grant. Winters led Ryan and the family to the room.

Now I have seen a lot of kids light up when a Packer chooses their bike to ride at training camp or when they take the time to crack a joke at Fan Fest. And I have seen almost every one of those kids go tongue tied and shoe shuffled. Ryan Luxem walked in to that hotel room, met Grant, and froze his grin as wide as the knit cap that covered his head.

His mom stood a few steps back, smiling, holding her lips, tears ready to spill over, only she looked like she wouldnt allow it because she had to take in every second.

She hadn't seen him smile so much in a long, long time, said Winters.

Plenty of athletes sign autographs or snap photos and then move on and be done with it. But I know Packers give more when they can. Grant visited with Ryan for more than 90 minutes. First he gave out gifts, which included a No. 25 jersey so big it could fit Brandon Jackson. Couple of curl ups and youll fit that in no time, said Grant.

Grant gave him an autographed football by Greg Jennings, a signed photo by Nick Barnett and signed playing cards -- you might want to sell these on eBay. More gifts. Even a red challenge flag and advice on how to use it on his parents.

Ryans brother and sister, both younger than him, visited with Grant, as well as Matt and Amy. After a while, Ryan found his nerve and his voice and began sharing about school subjects, friends and big plans.

Everyone left the room with hope. Ryan even expected to attend school on Monday after missing two weeks.

But Monday was miserable.

The tornado that ripped through the area happened to damage the Luxem home. Theres debris to be cleared. Matt is also busy setting up jobs, as he works in carpentry and repair and there are other homes that were damaged.

Worse, doctors said a clinical trial chemotherapy drug was not working for Ryan.

He had blood work done and the results showed that 100% of those cells tested were cancerous, said Winters. Ryan is being taken off of the drug. That was his last hope at survival. He and the family were asked if they wanted to take another oral chemo drug to try and prolong his life a few more weeks or just let him go.

Ryan wants to take the chemo, so he was sent home with the oral chemo for now. Matt and Amy are obviously very upset and I'm told that Ryan is really down right now, as you might imagine. He's feeling more sick, as well. Ryan knows he only has a short time to live and that is very scary for a young boy who has been trying to grasp onto hope.

What words should go here? Some message of how we all should be thankful? Some lesson? Its impossible. The Luxems didnt ask for a thing. Theres no push for a fundraiser. They are just going through the worst possible nightmare any parent can imagine. And theyre so busy right now with their Ryan, their two other young children, the house and tornado and the upcoming holiday.

The family wanted to make sure Grant knew how grateful they were. Thankfully, Grants agent Stacy Jenson was smart enough to grab the video camera. Its all there, if they ever want to re-visit that small moment when life wasn't so hard.

It's a great memory for him to have now, and it meant a lot to him and his parents, said Winters. I know they will cherish Ryan Grant's kindness long after their child is gone.

Very touching story.

"Zero2Cool" wrote:

Off the field: Packers fan Ryan Luxem dies of leukemia 
By Lori Nickel of the Journal Sentinel

Dec. 30, 2010 3:51 p.m. |(46) Comments

It is with great sorrow that I pass along the news that Ryan Luxem died Wednesday of leukemia.

The 11-year-old boy and Packers fan was surprised with a visit from Packers running back Ryan Grant in November. Ryan Luxem was thrilled with this visit and his family enjoyed the respite from their own pain to watch their boy smile at Grant so much.

Ryan, who was rarely without his Packers hat, watched the Packers beat the Giants Sunday and looked for Grant on the sidelines, chest bumping John Kuhn after a touchdown.

Ryan Luxem was at home, surrounded by his family, wearing his Donald Driver jersey, when his difficult, painful and long battle with the disease ended.

I have never had so much feedback from readers as when his story appeared Thanksgiving day. More than 100 people contacted me through twitter or email specifically asking how they could help parents Matt, Amy and the Luxem family financially.

Their friend, Mark Winters, said the family had this suggestion:

The parents ask that a donation be made to either the MACC Fund or Make-A-Wish Foundation on Ryan's behalf. Ryan cared deeply for these two organizations and spent a lot of his time making origami that was then sold in order to raise money. He tried teaching his parents how to make origami in his final weeks of life, so that they could, in turn, teach his younger brother and sister so they could raise more money for the MACC Fund and Make-A-Wish.

Ryan wanted to see childhood cancer cured someday and contributed thousands of dollars via his fundraising efforts towards that goal.

Here are the links to those websites:

MACC Fund.  Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer Inc.

John M. Cary, executive director, explained the ongoing mission of the MACC Fund: "I have been fortunate to do this work for nearly 29 years. I learned very quickly that it never should happen to a child and a family yet still, far too often, it does despite impressive cure rate increases. Unlike most things, it doesn't get easier with time. As a distinguished member of our Scientific Advisory Board told me recently, 'We do research to honor those we have lost.' The MACC Fund will continue to do research to help the other Ryans."

Make-A-Wish  Foundation national.


Make-A-Wish  Foundation of Wisconsin.

One final note: The family is making final arrangements for Ryan and those will not be publicized here, out of respect for their privacy. Thanks for understanding. Lori

Dying child's fight inspires Packers' Grant to create lasting legacy 

By Lori Nickel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel lacrossetribune.com | Posted: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 1:00 am

BURLINGTON, Wis. - Ryan Grant was leaving Lambeau Field late last December when he got the message that Ryan Luxem, the 11-year-old Green Bay Packers fan with leukemia, had died.

The news was not unexpected, but somehow that did nothing to lessen the sorrow upon learning it.

Grant thought of how hard Luxem fought to stay alive as long as he did and asked the questions that have no satisfactory answers.

Why him?

How is this right?

How is this fair?

Then, he started thinking.

"He touched me, he brought something to me," Grant said. "And I'm in a position to bring something to others. I needed to do something and I wanted to get others involved, too."

The Packers running back was in Burlington on Tuesday to do just that.

He is creating a scholarship fund in memory of Luxem, and he is getting started in two ways.

First, he surprised the students at Burlington Catholic Central High School with an offer to pay for their junior prom. In exchange, he asked if they would continue their fundraising efforts. Instead of paying for DJs and a banquet hall, the students could raise money for the Luxem scholarship.

Grant then headed to Greenfield, where he rented out the Cool Waters Family Aquatic Park on July 10 for his "Ryan 4 Ryan Celebration." The event will be open to the public. The entrance fees from the day will be donated to the Luxem scholarship.

Besides his time, Grant will be donating $25,000 to $30,000 between these two events; the Luxem scholarship will benefit students at Wilmot High School, where Ryan's mother, Amy, is a teacher.

Grant is expected to bring several teammates and their families to the Cool Waters event. He's also taking his girlfriend to ... the prom. "I never got to go to prom," he explained.

"Ask him if he'll bring the Lombardi Trophy," said Catholic Central senior Zach Guilliams.

Grant told the students he chose Burlington Catholic Central for three reasons: It is close to the Luxem home in Union Grove; his marketing agent, Stacy Jenson, has a niece and nephew, Foote, attending the school; and because Grant went to Catholic schools Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey and the University of Notre Dame and felt comfortable asking another Catholic school for help.

Grant has been busy with promotional events and maintaining his workouts. The ankle he injured in the opener last season has been healthy since before the Super Bowl. And even though the players are locked out in a labor dispute with NFL owners, he's following his usual off-season regimen.

He's even headed to Florida soon, with teammates such as James Jones and Nick Collins, as well as other NFL players, for seven-on-seven work and drills.

Grant is not worried about the labor issue that could affect his comeback.

"I put things in perspective. Japan is trying to keep from literally melting down," he said. "You've got the labor stuff going on in Madison with the budget. By no means am I trying to downplay this. But it will be OK. This needed to happen. Maybe this is necessary for the future of the league.

"The reason why I am so confident that both sides will get something done is because I know both sides want football."

But he hardly talked about football to the students. His speech was all about doing for others. The running back, who had been through a rough year of his own on injured reserve, had met Luxem, one of Green Bay's most loyal fans, in November. And it's hard to say now if that meeting meant more to the child or to the player.

Luxem was the kind of boy who loved his Packers, win or lose. Even when he wasn't feeling well from treatments and hospital visits, he wore his green and gold faithfully. When a family friend reached out and simply asked for an autograph, or maybe a word of encouragement, Grant got on his crutches and in to a car, making the drive from Green Bay to meet Luxem in person.

Grant was one of Luxem's favorite players and he beamed in his presence. Less than three months later, Grant made it his personal mission that "little Ryan" not be forgotten and that, in fact, would have his name on something helpful for someone else.