Dad contest thru June 26
Article updated: 1/24/2013 11:04 PM

ECC team to give odds-beater Erickson a special day

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Matthew Erickson, who recently celebrated his first birthday, will be "adopted" by the Elgin Community College men's basketball team on Saturday. Matthew suffers from a rare form of brain cancer rarely found in infants.

photo courtesy erickson family

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Matthew Donald Erickson has two siblings already, but he’ll gain 14 new big brothers when he is “adopted” by the Elgin Community College men’s basketball team in what promises to be a heartwarming gathering Saturday at 11 a.m. Such moments of joy are welcome for Huntley parents Ben and Sue Erickson, whose son has spent the first 13 months of his life battling a rare form of brain cancer rarely diagnosed in infants. Ben and Sue learned something wasn’t quite right shortly before Thanksgiving 2011. An ultrasound revealed Matthew would be born with hydrocephalus, an excess of cerebral fluid. The Ericksons’ third child was born on Dec. 11. Four days later he endured a procedure to relieve pressure on the brain caused by the fluid.
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