Hampshire resident enjoys special pregame experience at Bulls game

Advocate Health Care pediatric patient and Hampshire resident Jayden Bernatonis and his guests joined the Chicago Bulls at the United Center Saturday night as they took on the Miami Heat for a special pregame experience.

Jayden, 12, who is a patient at Advocate Children's Hospital in Park Ridge, participated in the "Fan Tunnel" experience where he and his guests high fived the players on their way out to the court.

They also received tickets to the game, took photos on the court prior to tipoff, were featured on the video board during the game and even received autographed sneakers from Bulls guard Zach LaVine.

Jayden was joined by his grandmother, Bonnie Kraft, and guests Jennifer and Owen Franz.

Last fall, after two years of symptoms, doctors at Advocate Children's Hospital in Park Ridge diagnosed Jayden with a rare tumor: pheochromocytoma paraganglioma.

His blood pressure was spiking and he was vomiting due to the tumor, which was sending extra adrenaline through his veins. He had a procedure to have the tumor removed from his abdominal aorta and vena cava and spent six weeks in the hospital.

His illness is one that needs to be monitored the rest of his life as it could metastasize and or return. He will be following up with CT scans and blood tests on a yearly basis with an oncologist and a nephrologist.

Jayden is a huge Bulls fan who loves basketball and plays basketball video games when he can't be on the court. He has played on his park district teams since he was in kindergarten and is hoping to soon make the team at school.