Back in February 2017, something special began.
For the first time, David, a newly diagnosed teen, got to meet his Connecting Champions role model Cam Johnson. Cam may have 18 inches on David, but that didn’t get in the way of David’s classic trash-talking.
David didn’t wait long to challenge Cam in one of his favorite activities in the hospital — nerf gun battles.
Cam would visit David throughout David’s cancer journey, going on all sorts of adventures together. One of their favorites was a pizza eating competition at a restaurant around the corner from Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.
Want to guess who won?
As David got better and better and started heading home, Cam had some good news too! He was transferring to University of North Carolina to be a starter on their Men’s Basketball team!
David and his family were super psyched for Cam, but David had a tough time saying goodbye. As David told us, he was just really going to miss his “brother Cam.”David followed Cam from hundreds of miles away, as Cam crushed the competition and got national recognition for his impact on the court for one of the best teams in the country.
But back home, David missed his Connecting Champions friend. They still texted each other and the friendship continued to grow, but trash-talking is done much better in person. Months passed, and David didn’t know when he would see Cam next.
…until this week!
We’re excited to share that these two superstars reunited for the first time in almost a year! They jumped right back in where they left off (if you look closely, you can see a pizza place in the background of the 2nd picture… ).
Cam shared stories of grad school at UNC, and David shared his excitement for his upcoming baseball season. The brothers were re-united.
Cam was there for David during the hardest of days. He gave David confidence, silliness, and lots of friendship. In so many ways, he helped David be a kid again.
As we always say, our friendships aren’t just a one-time event or hospital visit — the impact of a Connecting Champions friendship lasts a lifetime.
