Another Special Victory: Football players form bond with alumna’s son as they celebrate his win over cancer

Christmas continued into Saturday for Grayson Coleman, a 9-year-old cancer survivor with the heart of a champion. Grayson was in the stands to watch his favorite football team, the Liberty University Flames, upset No. 9/11 Coastal Carolina at the Cure Bowl in Orlando, Fla.

“He loves cheering for the Flames,” said his mom, former Lady Flames women’s basketball guard Dawn Coleman (’90). “He wants to go to Liberty, and that makes me happy.”

Grayson and his mom, who live in nearby Casselberry, Fla., helped fan the Flames to their second straight win at the Cure Bowl — a game that has a mission to find a cure for cancer. In its first five years, the Cure Bowl has raised more than $3.8 million to support the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Liberty’s Football team has been backing Grayson’s fight since he diagnosed with Osteosarcoma bone cancer on Nov. 16, 2019 — when an MRI revealed a 4-inch tumor in his leg that had metastasized into a few spots in his lungs.

Last year, when the Flames arrived in Orlando a few days early to prepare for their first bowl game in program history, a 23-16 victory over Georgia Southern on Dec. 21, Flames tight end JT Wood and defensive lineman Jessie Lemonier visited Grayson in the hospital between chemotherapy treatments. Lemonier was named the 2019 Cure Bowl MVP before being drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers last spring.

Surgery removed the tumor, and two-thirds of the fibula in Grayson’s lower right leg. But with unconditional love and motivation from his mom and physical therapists, as well as inspiration from athletes such as Tim Tebow who surprised him with a video call, Grayson walked out of the hospital on Aug. 4, applauded by family, friends, and the nursing staff as he rang the bell declaring that he was officially in remission.

The week of Thanksgiving, the Colemans attended the ribbon-cutting for the brand new Liberty Arena — home to the Flames’ and Lady Flames’ basketball and volleyball teams located beside the Vines Center, where Coleman played her home games.

They stopped by the Liberty Football Indoor Practice Facility at the end of a practice leading up to the Flames’ regular-season finale against UMass, and the players rejoiced over Head Coach Hugh Freeze’s announcement that Grayson was four months cancer-free.

Freeze vowed that if Grayson caught a pass from him at the end of practice, the Flames could practice without pads for the rest of that week. When Grayson made the catch, the players erupted in cheers and rallied around him, with a couple of them raising him on their shoulders.

“That was so cool,” Coleman said.

“It was crazy,” Grayson added.

Freeze and some of the players autographed the ball and awarded it to Grayson before he hung out and played catch with a few of the players and had his picture taken with redshirt junior quarterback Malik Willis.

“We had a great time,” Coleman said. “We were treated like royalty that day. He was, for sure.”

When the Flames were selected to meet the Chanticleers in Orlando, Liberty Football Director of Player Development and Engagement Matt Bevins purchased tickets for the Colemans behind the end zone, six rows up from the field.

The Flames’ players were just as excited to see Grayson again. With temperatures dipping below 50 degrees before game time, freshman wide receiver Demario Douglas gave Grayson one of his gloves and graduate quarterback Chris Ferguson offered him a hand warmer. Grayson endured the cold weather and stayed up past his bedtime to see history be made, watching the Flames flood the field in celebration of their second consecutive Cure Bowl triumph, an epic battle broadcast in prime time on ESPN.

Soon after the post-game bedlam subsided, Bevins delivered Grayson one of the game balls.

These are unforgettable gestures of encouragement for Grayson, who had endured 29 weeks of chemotherapy over a period of eight months, spending more than 70 percent of that time in the hospital.

“It was definitely a battle that we pray he will never have to do again,” Coleman said, noting that Grayson has returned to school and hopes to return to the baseball field after his next set of scans in February. “We just have to have faith that his battle is over and his healing (will continue). I’m a mom, so I want him to be better yesterday, but I’m so grateful for where he’s at now. Whether he plays sports or not, at least he has the opportunity to make that decision on his own, so that’s huge.”

The trial, and the emotional and spiritual support he has received through it all, has given Grayson a new outlook on life and a desire to pay it forward.

“He’s got a huge heart, so anytime he sees anybody else suffering … he prays for other people all the time,” Coleman said.

“I used to take a lot for granted, I think,” Grayson told LFSN’s Emily Austen during a follow-up Flames Central video aired in August. “Now, I learned that I should be grateful for everything. Never give up. Trying is the best you can do. Future You will thank Present You.”