The Children's Dream Fund sends Kyle Mills, recovering from cancer, and his family to baseball's All-Star Game.
By TIFFANI SHERMAN
Published July 11, 2003
[Times photos: Douglas Clifford]
Kyle Mills, 16, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer earlier this year, admires an autographed glove sent to him by New York Yankee secnd baseman Alfonso Soriano.
Kyle, a baseball player at Dunedin High School, holds his ticket to the All-Star Game.
PALM HARBOR - What do you get when you combine the world's best baseball players, the Windy City and a baseball-crazy teenager?
A dream come true.
Sixteen-year-old Kyle Mills will board AirTran Flight 122 to Chicago on Saturday and leave his medical problems behind.
He's going to Major League Baseball's 2003 All-Star Game. His parents, two older brothers and younger sister are going with him.
The Children's Dream Fund, a nonprofit organization based in St. Petersburg, is making it all possible.
Kyle is recovering from testicular cancer. He started having pain last September, but did not say anything for a few months.
"It's hard to talk about when you're 16," he said. "I was hoping it would go away and it didn't."
After a January day of tough conditioning for baseball season, Kyle had to do something.
"The pain was so bad, I couldn't take it and I told my dad," he said. Three days later he was having his first round of aggressive chemotherapy. Treatments ended in April. He missed all of baseball season.
"I will never forget when we asked him why he waited, he said he wanted to wait until baseball season ended," said Kathy Mills, Kyle's mom.
Baseball has always been a part of Kyle's life. It started with T-ball. Now Kyle plays second base for Dunedin High School, where he'll be a junior in the fall, and a summer Pinellas PAL team.
His teammates helped him through his cancer treatment both emotionally and physically. All the players shaved their heads.
"It was really nice," he said. "I couldn't believe they would do something like that. Some of them are pretty protective of their hair."
Now the hair is back, and Kyle will have the chance to be around some of baseball's top players.
He's never been to Chicago, but will now spend five days there. His is one of the 90 to 100 wishes the Children's Dream Fund will grant this year. The fund works with seven hospitals on Florida's west coast to find children and their dreams. The group has been around since 1981, and all the money comes from private and corporate donations.
Kyle's mom said her son was almost embarrassed to ask for his baseball wish. She said "he's not a taker" and wanted to allow wishes for sicker kids.
Now that he has his wish, Kyle is reaching for the stars. He asked the Children's Dream Fund to arrange meetings with some of his favorite players, especially Alex Rodriguez and Alfonso Soriano. He doesn't know if that will happen yet.
But Kyle Mills does know one thing.
"If you have any pain, you should tell somebody. I learned the hard way."
