'The best day ever': Glenview girl chosen to be 'Honorary Cubs Bat Kid'
For 10-year-old Mary Ahern of Glenview, her third time at Wrigley Field certainly was charmed.
On June 16, she served as Advocate Health Care's "Honorary Cubs Bat Kid" at the Chicago Cubs' ballpark.
"It was amazing," said Mary, going into fifth grade at Our Lady of Perpetual Help School.
On the field before the game, Mary met her favorite player, Cubs all-star Ian Happ, who later drove in 2 runs in a 10-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
Mary and her family - parents Anne and Dan and 8-year-old brother Tommy - got to sit in the Cubs' dugout, went out to the outfield warning track and watched batting practice before the game.
The Cubs gave Mary and Tommy baseballs to collect players' autographs, and presented Mary with a jersey with her name on it. During the game, Mary and her family were featured on the Wrigley Field video board and, for viewers at home - like her grandparents who are big Cubs fans - on the Marquee Sports Network.
"They were really excited," Mary said.
So was Tommy, who got a ball signed by his favorite player, Nico Hoerner; and Dan Ahern, an Arlington Heights native who met his favorite player, Mike Tauchman, a product of Fremd High School in Palatine.
Advocate Health Care has a partnership with the Cubs in which Advocate can select one "Bat Kid" per month from April through September.
It can make things a little more pleasurable for people like Mary, diagnosed in February with life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis and Type 1 diabetes. For four nights she stayed in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Advocate Children's Hospital in Park Ridge.
"It's just a way to give them a little something for all they've been through, a day not to think about all the pills and procedures and just to have fun and be a kid," said Advocate Children's Hospital spokesperson Katie Dahlstrom.
"The best day ever," Anne Ahern called it. "Mary gets a lot of attention from diabetes sometimes that she doesn't want. This day, she only had the attention for fun, positive, exciting things."
What seemed to the Aherns like a bout of stomach flu led to a trip to urgent care for Mary. Exhibiting symptoms of diabetes, she was transported to Advocate Children's Hospital.
"Those doctors took one look at her and knew exactly what it was, which was amazing," Anne Ahern said.
Mary now has a diabetic care team through Advocate that helps monitor the situation.
"It's not hard, it's just different," Mary said. "I need to have insulin shots every day and I need to manage my blood sugar. And I have to think about what I'm eating."
She was satisfied with a soft pretzel at the ballpark.
It wasn't lost on the Cubs-loving Aherns that the No. 10 jersey the Cubs gave Mary not only represented her age, it was the same number worn by Hall of Fame Cub Ron Santo, a diabetic.
Santo played third base, like Mary does in Glenview Park District softball.
"I'm probably going to put it in a frame," she said.