A very special game in Eldred; Five-year-old with ALD is honorary assistant coach

GRIFFIN MAJOR
Posted 8/21/12

ELDRED, NY — The entire district is invited to attend a very special basketball game in Eldred’s gymnasium on February 3 in honor of Carter Brischler. Carter is a five-year-old preschooler at …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

A very special game in Eldred; Five-year-old with ALD is honorary assistant coach

Posted

ELDRED, NY — The entire district is invited to attend a very special basketball game in Eldred’s gymnasium on February 3 in honor of Carter Brischler. Carter is a five-year-old preschooler at Eldred’s George Ross Mackenzie Elementary School. He and his older brother, Peyton, who is a third-grader, spend a lot of time together playing and watching their favorite sports teams with their family. Carter’s teacher, Kelly Robertson, said that Carter is very academically bright and shows it through his love for reading and coloring. She also commented that Carter is one of the sweetest and kindest students that she has this year.

Recently, Carter was diagnosed with a terminal illness known as Adrenoleukodystrophy, or ALD. ALD is a disease that directly affects the central nervous system. Because of this, the ability to see, hear, or feel, and even staying mobile is directly affected, leaving the body’s senses completely deteriorated.

In response to this tragedy, the Eldred Central School District will dedicate the February 3 boy’s varsity basketball game to Carter. Carter, being a huge fan of sports, will be the honorary assistant coach for the boy’s team. He will be working with David Binkowski (who is the team’s coach) during the course of the varsity game. The team will be opposing Livingston Manor that evening, and hopes, with the help of Carter, to continue what has so far been a fantastic season on the court.

The varsity game will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the high school’s auditorium, following the junior varsity game, where Carter will be giving his mom a flower at center court. There will be no admission charge for either game—but donations will be accepted. Snacks and drinks will be sold at the game, and all profits are donated to the family.

Aside from the school, many people from the community have really stepped up to help this family, which is going through such a terrible crisis. Some of the family’s close friends created a GoFundMe account, which allows people to send the family donations online. Since GoFundMe takes out a small percentage of funds donated through it, the family has also opened a PO box to allow families to send private checks. If you prefer to send funds online, you can go to https://www.gofundme.com/courageforcarterb. Otherwise, to send a private donation through the mail, address it to Brischler Family, PO Box 754, Sparrowbush NY, 12780.

As of now, Carter is still enrolled in school with extra help from aides. The family is very grateful for the incredible help from not only donors, but from the attention and nurturing of the school, which has been going above and beyond to give Carter as much as he can.

“It’s amazing how such a small community can do such big things when a family is in need,” said Carter’s mother, Stacie Brischler.

Despite his fight, Carter is still very happy and enjoying school and his family. You can help him continue to do so by coming out to support him and Eldred’s basketball teams on February 3.

[Griffin Major is a senior at Eldred High School.]

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here