Two movements began that day. Northwestern began playing for Jaclyn, and soon after it started winning national championships, four in a row. The team is 20-0 this season and three victories from its fifth straight title. Northwestern will host Princeton in an N.C.A.A. quarterfinal game Saturday afternoon.
The players say they are just as excited about what they helped create off the field during their championship run. The team’s support of Jaclyn was a catalyst for her father, Denis, to start a charity that pairs pediatric brain tumor patients with college teams. Nearly 100 children have been “adopted” by teams like St. Bonaventure and Southern Mississippi. Three hundred teams are on a waiting list to adopt such children.
“Disney couldn’t make up some of the stuff that’s happened,” Denis Murphy said.
Jaclyn and Denis Murphy said the bond the Northwestern team formed with Jaclyn helped save her life. She is now a healthy 14-year-old freshman at Arlington High School in LaGrangeville, N.Y., where she plays junior varsity lacrosse.
I caught this one last night on the plane. Simply fabulous. Read it all.