(KTRK 13 News)
KPRC 2 News
Moments before Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy, he was asked about a little yellow band around his wrist.
“It’s something that kind of touched me throughout this year,” said Manziel.
The wristband is from a foundation formed to help five-year-old Charlie Dina from Houston. Charlie is fighting a rare form of cancer known as Neuroblastoma. The boy is also a huge fan of Texas A&M football. Earlier this season, Charlie’s mother, Angela Dina, contacted Manziel to tell him about her son’s condition and the wristband.
“To be up here and he loves my story, and he fights because of what I do on the field and I’m fighting on the field because of what he does,” said Manziel. The wristband says “Charlie’s Angels” and includes a bible verse.
“People have asked me to take it off for photo shoots for some stuff and I wouldn’t do it,” said Manziel.
“I thought it was really an awesome thing for a young man to do that for a child that he’s never even met,” said Dina.
The Dina family watched Saturday’s Heisman announcement from Charlie’s room at Texas Children’s Hospital, where Charlie is in the middle of the stem cell transplant that his family said will hopefully save his life.
“He really was feeling pretty bad. I was able to lean over and whisper to him and say, ‘Buddy, he won the trophy.’ And he said, ‘Oh, good,’” said Dina.
Despite being weakened by five rounds of chemotherapy, two surgeries and nearly two weeks of radiation, Charlie is determined to defy all odds and come out on top, just like his favorite player and Heisman-winning supporter.
(See more of this story at KPRC 2 News)
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