In a touching moment Tuesday night at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles put their American League East rivalry on hold and made way for Darla Holloway, 4, to sing the National Anthem before the game, followed by 'God Bless America' during the seventh-inning stretch. Holloway was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia two years ago, and was there to sing along with the Jimmy Fund band at Fenway Park.
Accompanied by her mother, Sherelle Holloway, during the seventh-inning stretch, Darla Holloway belted out the song and captured the hearts of the Fenway faithful.
The rendition can be seen below courtesy of MLB.com:
Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia was definitely taken by the moment and described it as "special."
"It was pretty cool," Pedroia told MLB.com of Darla's seventh-inning rendition. "It was special. Everybody was out there [on the field] and kind of had to take a step back."
Darla Holloway had a cold a few years ago, and when her mother took her to the doctor, she received the bad news.
"Basically, they told me that her counts were so low that her organs were getting ready to get shut down," Sherelle Holloway said per MLB.com. "I wanted to get a second opinion. And they were like, 'You don't have time for that.'"
That's when, according to MLB.com, doctors discovered a form of blood cancer and administered a blood transfusion before transferring Darla to a children's hospital. Since the diagnosis, the family has been working with the Jimmy Fund, which is a Boston based organization that raises funds for adult and child cancer patients.
Darla's cancer is treatable according to her mother, and after a two month stay in the hospital she was able to leave and return for outpatient weekly visits. These days, she's home and has a nurse visit her there and she also goes into the hospital about once a month. According to MLB.com, Darla is a year and four months into her two year treatment program.
Darla put all of her struggles behind her, and belted out two beautiful songs Tuesday night.
"It's songs of happiness," Sherelle Holloway said in a pregame radio interview with WEEI, according to MLB.com. "I'm happy, she's happy now. She likes singing, too. It's something to take your mind off what's going on."
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
