“We’re just very happy to help,” said Papp, who saw the Journal-News’ story on Carter Thursday in his Google feed for Reds news. “It was such a touching story… (The) story and Carter were inspirational, and it made me proud to be from Cincinnati and be a Reds fan.”
Carter got to meet Phillips, his favorite Red, and other players in late May as part of a wish granted through the McCrabb Open. The organization, founded by Journal-News reporter Rick McCrabb in 1990, has granted wishes for children who have cancer for the past 25 years.
Carter was psyched and thankful when he learned after his team’s baseball practice about the six tickets — valued at $800 each, for a total of $4,800. He said he was “excited” to be going to the game and wants to see the Reds’ Todd Frazier — who “is a player I really like” — and Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels play. Carter added that he “like(s) to watch home runs hit.”
His parents, April and Chris, as well as his three brothers, Shelby, 15, Henry, 14 and Casey, 10, will sit with him in those seats along the third base line in left field during Tuesday’s game.
“I am really excited,” said April Caddell. “This is still hard to believe … It was just so generous for someone who doesn’t even know us from clear across the country to do this.”
Papp may not know Carter personally, but he can empathize, to a degree, with what it’s like to be a sick child. Papp said he was in and out of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center for various conditions between the ages of 12 to 14. When he was 12, Papp said he came down with a form of hepatitis that hospitalized him for about three weeks. Shortly after he recovered, he came down with a bone marrow disease called aplastic anemia and later developed a bleeding disorder called ITP (Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura) that required him to visit the hospital every day for platelet transfusions.
“Needless to say, I was a very sick kid, so I can relate — in a much smaller way — to what Carter dealt with,” Papp said. “But eventually everything went away. I’m 28 now and fully healthy.”
Papp hopes the same for Carter, whose cancer is in remission, according to his mother. Carter, a student at Middletown Christian, was diagnosed in early February with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and underwent intensive chemotherapy treatments at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center over a five-week period.
April Caddell said she wants people who might be going through their own battle with cancer to know that it doesn’t have to be a terrible tragedy. She said her family — which has set up a Facebook page, Pray For Carter — believes that Carter’s situation “is all part of the Lord’s plan.”
“We want Carter to be an inspiration to other people,” she said. “He’s a fighter.”
McCrabb, whose foundation made it possible for Carter to meet his favorite Reds players, said he couldn’t be happier for the Caddell family.
“He’s the poster child for everything the McCrabb Open stands for,” McCrabb said of Carter.
Papp said causes like the McCrabb Open can become contagious, as evidenced by StubHub’s willingness to reach out after learning of Carter’s story.
“It should be a great day for the Cincinnati area, and we hope he and his family have a blast,” Papp said of the All-Star Game.
April Caddell added: “It’s good to know there are still good people in the world.”
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