I am copying this from the 04 thread and am hoping that it will get great response from our North Texas soccer community. My son is an 03 has had the pleasure of training with Gage...he is a great kid with a great family who are immersed in the soccer community with an 01 Texans player also. Please reach out to them.

I will start this post by stating I have full permission by the parents to make this post. Please feel free to share with other teams, siblings, forums or players (boys or girls) as you see fit. My goal is for this to go viral through the soccer community and 100s of kids/families respond.

A 7 year old boy that plays for our Dynamo 04 has been hospitalized (in and out of ICU) since the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The young man had strep that entered his bloodstream and has settled in his kidneys and is causing havoc with his body. We were hopeful that he would be able to spend Christmas at home with his mom, dad, 2 brothers and sister. We learned today that the situation is not improving and there is NO way he will be home for Christmas. Lets all make his Christmas as special as we can.

He sits in a bed all day playing WII and reading his get well cards over and over. I am asking anyone that reads this to please take the time and send a get well note or holiday card to this young man. Our goal is to cover the walls of his room with notes and cards and brighten his holiday season. Please do NOT send gifts or money as this is not financially motivated at all. When sending, please have your player sign name, team and age so that the boy will know who is thinking of and praying for him durning this holiday season.

I know he will be excited to see the pile of cards come in.

Please send notes and cards to
Gage Kirkwood
Medical City Children's
7777 Forest Lane
Building D, Room 625
Dallas, Texas 75230

Thank you in advance for supporting one of your own in the soccer community
Preston Pomykal

Although this message is so heartfelt, it is so difficult for us to write as there is no way for us to ever thank you all enough for all the love and support that you have given us. We are so amazed and so very grateful for the way our soccer community has rallied, prayed and reached out to Gage during this time. It has meant the absolute world to our entire family and has completely defined his experience in the hospital. His room was absolutely beautiful over the holidays! Your cards literally covered his walls and reading through each one absolutely made his day. Your children have amazing hearts and we loved each and every card that they made! The mail delivery man said he has never had a patient that received that much mail! I know that Gage's heart felt so loved and we could never thank you enough for that!

Gage is doing great! After 47 days in the hospital, he returned home last weekend and we are absolutely thrilled with the progress that he has made! He currently has almost 40% kidney function and they removed his dialysis catheters yesterday. In a few months they will do another biopsy to determine the permanent damage that was done to his kidneys. This has been the most devastating and yet the most beautiful situation that our family has ever been through. Our hearts have been touched in a way that we could never describe. Your beautiful words of encouragement, prayers and every single thing that you have done will be cherished forever. We have been so comforted by all of the kindness and goodness in our community and the soccer community which we now refer to as our "soccer family.” A very special thank you to Gage's coach, Preston Pomykal, for everything you have done. You facilitated everything beautiful that came out of this situation. Our hearts will be forever grateful for you.

Our sincerest and most heartfelt thank you for everything,

Don and Stacy Kirkwood