Nathaniel Stolle, a 4-year-old cancer patient from Middlefield, Ohio, called for Stephen Curry in the hallway outside the Warriors’ locker room Dec. 5 in Cleveland.
Curry had just scored 42 points to lead his team to victory over the Cavaliers.
“Oh, Curry!” Nathaniel, smiling, shouted playfully. “Where are you?”
Nathaniel wore a blue No. 30 Warriors jersey and held Curry’s children’s book, “The Boy Who Never Gave Up.”
He had played as Curry on the “NBA 2K” video game, watched his practice videos, tried to emulate his moves and savored his animated celebrations.
Curry spent about 10 minutes with Nathaniel and his family, offering encouraging words and posing for photos. He autographed several souvenirs, including the children’s book, and gave his game shoes to the boy. Curry was struck by Nathaniel’s engaging and talkative nature, especially for a kid his age.
“Oh, Curry!” Nathaniel, smiling, shouted playfully. “Where are you?”
Nathaniel wore a blue No. 30 Warriors jersey and held Curry’s children’s book, “The Boy Who Never Gave Up.” He had played as Curry on the “NBA 2K” video game, watched his practice videos, tried to emulate his moves and savored his animated celebrations.
Curry spent about 10 minutes with Nathaniel and his family, offering encouraging words and posing for photos. He autographed several souvenirs, including the children’s book, and gave his game shoes to the boy. Curry was struck by Nathaniel’s engaging and talkative nature, especially for a kid his age.
Six days later, little Nathaniel died.
The next day, Curry stood on the court at Golden State’s practice facility in Oakland and somberly reflected on the news. He knew the situation was dire when he reached the hallway in Cleveland and Charlene Stolle, Nathaniel’s mom, referred to “rough days ahead.”
“You hear that, but it doesn’t really sink in — how much they’ve been through, how they compartmentalize and process the prognosis for their son, and the helplessness of that feeling,” Curry said softly. “It’s a tough feeling, knowing I left to go to another city to play a basketball game and they left to go take care of their son.”
These interactions help shape Curry’s views of life and death, kids and family, good fortune and bad. He knows he lives a gilded existence: Curry earns more than $40 million per year playing basketball and another $40 million-plus annually in endorsements, and has won three NBA championships and two MVP awards with the Warriors.
He and wife Ayesha also have three young, healthy children. So it’s a jarring visit to another realm when Curry meets ailing kids and their families, desperate for even a moment of happiness. Many times, essentially, their dying wish is to meet Curry.
That’s heavy and humbling, as he acknowledged, but he accommodates many of these requests.
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Source: USA Today
