http://www.suntimes.com/3007150-417/cut ... betes.htmlCutler delivers cheer to ailing kids
SEAN JENSEN ON THE BEARS Dec 24, 2010 9:00AM
Jay Cutler joins 11-year-old Zachary Brouwer (center) of St. John, Ind., who was diagnosed with diabetes last week, and Zachary’s younger brother Kyle. | Courtesy of Comer Children's Hospital
Jamie Brouwer couldn’t stop the tears from flowing on Tuesday as she watched her 11-year-old son, Zachary, interact with his hero.
Just the night before, while watching ‘‘Monday Night Football,’’ the two of them had cheered on the Bears in Zachary’s room at the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital.
Now, about 14 hours later, Jay Cutler was in her son’s room, laughing and talking about toys and games. Cutler signed anything Zachary and his younger brother, Kyle, pushed in front of him, and he posed for several photos with the boys and the entire family.
When Cutler headed out, Jamie stopped him and said, ‘‘You made his Christmas.’’
And hers.
The last week has been a blur for the Brouwers, who are from St. John, Ind., about an hour south of Chicago. For three weeks, Zachary had been urinating a lot and drinking a lot of fluids. Last Friday, when he went to a see doctor in a nearby town about strep throat, Jamie explained some of the symptoms her son had been experiencing. Alarmed, the doctor ordered a blood test and asked them to head to the Kovler Diabetes Center at the University of Chicago.
‘‘I just felt like my whole world turned upside-down . . . again,’’ Jamie said.
That’s because she and her husband, Shaun, endured a stillbirth seven years ago on Christmas Eve.
‘‘So Christmas isn’t the best time,’’ Jamie said, fighting back tears. ‘‘You think after the years that it’s going to get better. It’s going to get better. But then, bam, we’re slammed with something else.’’
The Brouwers had heard of diabetes but didn’t know anything about the disease characterized by high blood-sugar levels.
‘‘[The diagnosis] was shocking,” Jamie said. ‘‘You always think it’s something other people deal with, not your 11-year-old son.’’
A doctor informed them that Zachary’s favorite player also was a Type 1 diabetic. Zachary already had Cutler’s No. 6 Bears jersey, and he was pumped about the possibility of meeting Cutler.
‘‘What if I pass out?’’ he told his mother Monday night.
Hopeful but leery, Jamie and Shaun had debated whether to tell their son about the possible visit. They were anxious Tuesday morning and early afternoon, and they both beamed when Cutler entered the hospital room.
‘‘It just means the world to me to know that he can do whatever he dreams of doing,’’ Shaun said. ‘‘He can be an NFL quarterback or the president of the United States — anything — just to know that someone like Jay Cutler can live with and manage this disease while he’s playing a physical game like football.’’
Added Jamie, ‘‘There’s hope that he can still be fine and perfect.’’
Passion for kids
Before the season, speaking with the Sun-Times, Cutler made clear he doesn’t seek the spotlight. Asked why he didn’t endorse any products, Cutler said, ‘‘Right now, I’m not producing on the football field the way I want to, and until we get to that level … I’m going to stay away from that. I’m going to concentrate on this first.’’
He later added that he shies away from interviews.
‘‘I’m not uncomfortable,’’ he said. ‘‘I guess I’m more of a private person.’’
Cutler initially agreed to an interview for this story. But he delayed it twice, noting Thursday afternoon that he would talk today.
That, of course, may fuel the perception that he’s aloof and moody. But Cutler, who was diagnosed with diabetes in 2008, did all he could to keep his visit Tuesday out of the media spotlight. Coincidentally, numerous media outlets were at the children’s hospital just hours earlier when 10 Bears players delivered care packages to cancer patients and their families through Phil’s Friends.
Cutler arrived at the hospital 15 minutes early with his celebrity girlfriend, Kristin Cavallari. He separated toys for children, listened to primers from hospital staff and pushed a cart down the hallways. While there were three newly diagnosed diabetes patients, Cutler shared his gifts with all the children he came across.
The kid from Santa Claus, Ind., played Santa Claus.
And if he was faking his sincerity, then Cutler’s a better actor than his girlfriend.
Last November, after being traded to the Bears, Cutler toured the Kovler Diabetes Center with his sister Jenna and his parents. Center executive director Peggy Hasenauer was moved when he engaged 15 diabetic teenagers in an impromptu Q&A.
‘‘It was so positive and so cool,’’ Hasenauer said. ‘‘I knew from a clinical perspective, a nurse’s perspective and a mom’s perspective, that Jay would do a fantastic job of speaking to these kids. We’re blessed to know someone like Jay Cutler.’’
Many young patients don’t fully grasp the disease, and they’re afraid to stand out because they use an insulin pump. But Jenna Cutler recalled her older brother’s message to them.
‘‘He told them, ‘I’m the quarterback of the Chicago Bears,’ ” she said. “ ‘You can do anything you want.’ ”
Jenna is sensitive about her brother’s public persona, even acknowledging the opportunity they had Tuesday.
‘‘You kind of need the publicity, to show your fans you’re doing something for your community,’’ she said. ‘‘After a huge win, he’s visiting a hospital. But he doesn’t like people to know what he’s doing, especially when he visits kids.’’
Added Mark Block, the chief marketing officer of the Jay Cutler Foundation, ‘‘We wanted there to be a lot of personal, one-on-one time with Jay and the kids.’’
A bright spot
In all, Cutler delivered gifts to more than a dozen children, some of whom were too sick to have visitors in their rooms.
On Tuesday, he was a yes man, agreeing to every photo and autograph request he received, be it from doctors, assistants or family members.
He generated a buzz at the hospital, even with some of the most unlikely people.
When he interrupted one little girl who was drawing, a hospital staffer asked, ‘‘Who is that?’’
‘‘The quarterback,’’ the girl said.
Nobody was happier than D’Andre Robinson, who has a rare form of cancer called clear-cell sarcoma. Just 4, Robinson had his fourth surgery on Dec. 16. He has been at the hospital for three consecutive weeks.
After the latest surgery, he was even too weak to play the Wii, said his mother, Dlyse.
‘‘It’s just hard,’’ Dlyse said. ‘‘I’ve got to be a fighter for him. I can’t let him see me have any weak moments.’’
She got emotional when Cutler arrived, and her son was back to his energetic, magnanimous self.
‘‘He was just laying in bed,’’ Dlyse said. ‘‘When he came, it was such a gift. That’s the most fun he’s had in awhile.’’
Cutler leaned on D’Andre’s bed, and they had a conversation.
‘‘Is your chin OK?’’ D’Andre asked Cutler, referring to the shot he took from Minnesota Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield.
Cutler showed D’Andre his three stitches.
A few minutes later, Dlyse considered stopping Cutler but decided against it.
‘‘This was a real blessing to me because, ‘Hello?’ he didn’t have to do this,’’ she said.
‘‘I didn’t tell him I appreciated this because I didn’t want to start crying.’’
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