All those wristbands Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes wears? They support some good causes
Mike Spinello, the father of a teenage boy some have come to call “SuperCade,” walked into a video game store this summer. His son isn’t much of a gamer, but he wanted a copy of Madden ’20.
Eight years ago, Cade, as he’s more simply known, underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor the size of an egg. He suffered a stroke during the operation and lost all movement on his right side. Lost his vision. Lost his speech. He’s better now, but only in relative terms.
So in late August, Cade wanted Madden. Spinello drove to GameStop in their home state of California. When he arrived, he paused to stare at the posters hanging in the store.
A picture of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes plastered advertisements of the Madden cover.
“Hey, sir,” Spinello said, getting the attention of one of the store’s employees. “When you’re done promoting this, can I get these posters?”
Why?
“Well,” Spinello said. “One of those bracelets Mahomes is wearing in that picture — my son gave it to him.”
Team Luke
On a Monday night last fall, Tim Siegel sat in front of his TV and flipped on the NFL game. He rarely misses a chance to watch Mahomes.
For 23 years, Siegel served as the Texas Tech head tennis coach, a job he held until retiring in 2015 to spend time with his family. His relationship with the NFL Most Valuable Player predates the stardom, the records, the national attention. Even his kids know Mahomes personally.
Four years ago, only a few weeks after Siegel retired to focus on his family, his son Luke suffered severe chest and head trauma as a result of a golf cart accident. His family learned of the incident via phone call.
Luke went into cardiac arrest for seven minutes. His outlook was grim. They didn’t detect brain activity for eight days. The Siegels fearing the worst. Luke spent the next 44 days in a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, then yet another four months at a hospital in Fort Worth.
Luke, now 13, survived, but his ability to speak and walk did not. He uses a wheelchair. He recently began to take sips of water, a significant and celebrated achievement. His communication comes primarily through tongue movements. He wiggles it as sign of affirmation. When Siegel asks his son if he wants to watch Mahomes, for example, the tongue moves.
Luke knew Mahomes before the golf cart accident. They maintained a relationship afterward, Luke attending Texas Tech football practices. Mahomes sometimes texts to check in on Luke.
During Mahomes’ sophomore season at Texas Tech, he played Baylor at Cowboys Stadium. They billed it as their biggest game of the year. Minutes before it started, Mahomes spotted Luke in the tunnel.
“He waved him over,” Siegel said. “He just said, ‘Hey, buddy, great to see you. I’m so glad you’re here.’
“And that meant so much to Luke.”
Siegel now runs a charity in Luke’s honor — Team Luke Hope for Minds, an organization that raises money to provide emotional and financial support for families in similar circumstances. They have branded apparel, “TEAM LUK3.”
During that Monday Night Football game last season, the cameras zoomed in on Mahomes as the national anthem played. Siegel’s phone didn’t stop buzzing for the next hour.
Did you see that?
He did.
Wrapped around Mahomes’ wrist rested a wristband.
TEAM LUK3.
Sophia Strong
Sophia Linenberger had heard rumors about an upcoming Mahomes visit to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.
For nearly a year, she had made trips to the hospital, back and forth from her home in Hays, Kansas, for weeklong stints of chemotherapy, radiation and treatment.
Sophia, 16, was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in January. Only about 200 kids each year are diagnosed with the form of cancer. Sophia endured two surgeries to her spine. On many weeks, the chemotherapy would stretch five consecutive days, zapping any strength in her body.
The Mahomes visit served as a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. But a day before he arrived at Children’s Mercy, Sophia traveled home for a break.
“I missed him by one day,” she said.
Weeks later, when she learned Mahomes’ foundation, 15 and the Mahomies, would be hosting a gala in Kansas City, she landed a ticket. The foundation selected 15 charities to present with a $15,000 check each during the dinner last month, and Sophia represented Children’s Mercy Hospital.
“I was just excited to be in the same room with him,” she said.
Late in the evening, Mahomes walked around the room, stopping at every table. Sophia took her chance. She always carries the bracelets her school made for her — Sophia Strong — for these moments. As Mahomes approached her table, she asked for a picture and then handed him the bright yellow band.
Mahomes made a promise to wear it. And sure enough, during Sunday’s win against the Raiders, he had added it to the collection.
“Oh, my gosh, I was so excited when I first saw it,” Sophia said. “My friends were all watching because I told them about it. It was such an honor.”
Inside the Linenberger household, they paused the TV every time “Sophia Strong” appeared on the screen. They snapped pictures of the freeze frames.
Days later, Sophia scrolled through Instagram and watched a post from Brittany Matthews, Mahomes’ longtime girlfriend. In one of the pictures in her burst, Mahomes was sitting at a table eating Thanksgiving dinner, the band still on his wrist.
“My daughter is my biggest inspiration,” said Jenny Linenberger, Sophia’s mom, “But Mr. Mahomes is definitely an inspiration, too.”
You Got This
Seven months ago, as Whitney Wells celebrated her 10th birthday, her parents noticed something seemed off. Whitney wasn’t laughing or smiling as she normally did. She bumped into the edges of a doorway. He facial expressions looked abnormal.
Doctors discovered a tumor in Whitney’s brain stem and diagnosed her with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. It has no cure.
“We’re trying to give her as many experiences as we can,” her father, Scott, said. “Anything to make the day better.”
In August, the Wells family, residents of St. Joseph, drove over to Chiefs training camp. They met with a handful of Chiefs players — Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Sammy Watkins — and with coach Andy Reid.
Whitney handed Mahomes a bracelet with a rallying cry her mom, Tara, often says during some of the harder days.
You got this.
A month later, the Wells family watched the Chiefs’ season opener. Scott thought he saw the baby blue bracelet they had given Mahomes. And soon thereafter, a friend texted him a photo, with the picture zoomed in on the quarterback’s wrist.
“She couldn’t believe it,” Scott said of his daughter, his voice breaking. “She’s just so excited.”
Later in the game, the story grew even better. They noticed Watkins wearing the bracelet, too.
“Had no idea they would wear it, especially during a game,” Wells said. “It made us feel like they care.
“We’re always looking for it now. It does make it a better day — or a better weekend.”
‘I’m able to keep everything in perspective’
The stories of Sophia, Luke, Whitney and SuperCade reside on Mahomes’ wrist, along with one more band representing Adaptive Foundation, located where the Chiefs quarterback trains in the offseason. Mahomes knows the details of each kid’s story and can recite the circumstances of their meetings.
There’s a commonality in how they learn of their everlasting place in Mahomes’ life. By surprise. Not from Mahomes. Not from any public broadcasting. He doesn’t bring it up in interviews, at least not until The Star asked him about it recently.
“When I wear these, not only am I showing support for these kids that work a thousand times harder than I do every single day, but I’m able to keep everything in perspective,” Mahomes said. “I love this game, and I want to put everything I have into it, but there are bigger things in this world other than just the game of football.”
Over the next two weeks, Chiefs players will participate in My Cause My Cleats, a league-wide initiative that allows them to wear custom-made shoes to support charitable works. Mahomes will participate during the game against Denver next weekend. Last year, he wore a pair of cleats representing Luke and raised $14,000 for his charity.
Many of the stories you just read will be visible on this year’s cleats. Just as they are on his bracelets. Some of the bands have been part of his wardrobe since his days at Texas Tech. He rarely takes them off.
Mahomes met Cade during a quarterback camp his sophomore year of college. The story stuck with him. In fact, last year Mahomes returned to the same Orange County football field where he was first introduced to Cade at the quarterback camp.
As the camp’s leader, Jordan Palmer, tells the story, as soon as Mahomes arrived — in town to shoot a commercial — he asked about Cade Spinello. Palmer immediately texted Cade’s mom, Erin.
“So then I get a text from my wife asking, ‘Hey, do you know who Patrick Mahomes is?’” Michael said, replying that of course he did.
“Well,” Erin said, “Apparently he’s asking to see Cade.”
Michael picked up the phone.
“I’m like, ‘Go to school, pull him out of school and get him down there immediately,’” Michael said, laughing as he shares the story.
Cade provided Mahomes with a new wristband that day. NEGU, it reads, an acronym for Never Ever Give Up, the motto for the Jessie Rees Foundation in Irvine, California.
A few months later, Michael was surfing through social media pages when he stumbled upon an advertisement for Madden ’20. Mahomes is on the cover.
Cool, he thought. He deserves that.
Then he zoomed in.
NEGU.
The poster of the cover — Michael did secure it from GameStop — hangs on Cade’s bedroom wall. It’s also the screen saver on an iPad.
Cade can’t actually see it. Although he has improved greatly from the initial side effects of his stroke — his speech has returned — his sight never fully recovered.
Cade is legally blind.
Luke moves only by wheelchair.
Sophia’s cancer is in remission.
Whitney is visiting specialists in search of a cure.
These are their stories, all of them wound around the wrists of the NFL Most Valuable Player.
“When I hear their stories and they make an impact in my life, I wear these as a daily reminder that I can go out there and put my best effort forward,” Mahomes said. “And still know that there’s bigger things other than football.”
This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 10:54 AM.