"A positive attitude is a powerful force." A sign hanging in one of the physical rehabilitation rooms of Children's Hospital Los Angeles bears this mantra, and for a reenergized Trojan football team coming off of an exciting Thursday night victory, that mantra means a lot.
On Friday afternoon, members of the USC football team paid a visit to CHLA offering hope and spreading smiles as they traveled room to room meeting and encouraging patients. The Trojan hope force included Devon Kennard, Dion Bailey, Marqise Lee, Nelson Agholor, Josh Shaw, Soma Vainuku, Tre Madden, Justin Davis, Randall Telfer, Max Browne, and Anthony Neyer.
On Friday afternoon, members of the USC football team paid a visit to CHLA offering hope and spreading smiles as they traveled room to room meeting and encouraging patients. The Trojan hope force included Devon Kennard, Dion Bailey, Marqise Lee, Nelson Agholor, Josh Shaw, Soma Vainuku, Tre Madden, Justin Davis, Randall Telfer, Max Browne, and Anthony Neyer.
(The Trojans also got to check out CHLA's helicopter landing pad!)
The Trojans toured the building and met children staying in the hospital from anywhere from one day to six months in a variety of departments including oncology and physical and occupational therapy. The group broke up into smaller teams to try and see as many patients as possible during their visit.
One group, made up of Browne, Agholor, Shaw, and Vainuku, met a little girl named Grace who was undergoing chemotherapy treatment. She was in awe at how big the football players were and in between memorizing their names and running her fingers along their signatures on her brand new poster, she mentioned over and over again that she was hardly the size of their legs.
Another group, including Neyer, Davis, Lee, and Madden met a young boy who severely hurt his neck in a football game on Thursday night. The story hit close to home for the team members and they offered the young athlete words of encouragement on the process of recovering from injury and returning to the football field better than ever.
An emphasis on positive attitude has helped the Trojans advance to a 4-2 record and regain the momentum in their season. But many team members learned at CHLA that positive energy can be an even more powerful force off the football field.
