Drew Wall

Drew Wall was a 15 year old boy that lost his battle with cancer on November 26^th, 2012. He was one of the most courageous boys that inspired many people. He was diagnosed with cancer of the bones at a very young age. When he was in middle school he had to get his leg amputated because there were too many complications including blood clots, bone density problems and the cancer was just eating away at him. He had to either be put into a wheel chair the rest of his life or choose to get a prosthetic leg. He was a very active child and loved to play sports, so he went with the prosthetic leg. The only down fall to the fake leg was that it cost 20,000 dollars for one, and he got it at a young age where he wasn’t fully grown yet. So it was very costly to his family to keep getting new legs for when he substantially grew, which was often, he was a very tall young boy. The hospital became his new home after a while because his health condition kept getting worse and worse.

Every year the volleyball team has a cancer night, usually for breast cancer, but in 2011 it was livestrong night. Drew was a part of this organization and the night was dedicated to him. In between the games he gave a moving speech that made you want to help people in his same position.  That night really showed everyone how you can have a positive outlook on life even when you are dealt the crappiest cards. He always had a smile on his face and was a joy to be around. Drew Wall was like no other.

 He participated in swimming, and golf. He had a love for all sports but golf was one that he could still participate in and grow in his game even with his fake leg.  He went to many sporting events at the college level such as the Hawkeyes football and basketball team and grew a strong relationship with them.  At his visitation there was a display of a huge poster with all the football players’ signatures and a few game balls from their season. There were also photos of him on the sidelines at the games. What a lucky guy. He even got to meet Kirk Farenz at a lunch for other children fighting the battle of cancer.

Attending the visitation I got to see all the things that this child has accomplished during his short life, and it was more than most people will be able to do in a lifetime. He trained in tyquando and reached the brown belt, the one right before the black belt. During his visitation his instructor placed a black belt with his name embroidered on it and a huge plaque with a certificate giving him his black belt. He had to stop going to the sessions because he didn’t have enough energy and it wasn’t healthy for him. He also rode in a few livestrong bike races with a few famous cyclists.  There were all his awards that he had accomplished pertaining to academics and they were astonishing. He had the time to maintain a 4.0 and get a 5 on the AP Human Geography while being so busy with everything else and fighting his battle.

The funeral was one of the most touching. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room. The Happiness group sang some songs in his remembrance. Many people spoke during the service including his golf coach and his grandfather who had a hard time talking with all the emotions running through him. The whole golf and swimming team attended. All of his friends and family were there to support his family. Dealing with the death of a loved one is not easy at all, my prayers and thoughts go out to his family. It is rough.

The death of a child is a very sad time. It was so wonderful to see how everyone on twitter and throughout the whole community comes together after the loss of such an amazing guy. If you had a chance to look through twitter the night he passed, every tweet at something about Drew in it. We got #DrewWall to trend and even got famous people to retweet us. Even livestrong retweeted some of our tweets. People from all over, all different schools and all over the country joined in to mourn the loss. Nike is doing something that is very kind to the Wall family and Kennedy High School. They are giving the whole basketball team purple shoes of their choice for the cancer night that is going to be all about Drew and donating 5,000 to the Wall family.

This was a very special boy, he touched many hearts and he is now in heaven with his Father. He is out of pain and will be missed by all. Thank you Drew for all that you did. (837)