Young Bears fan diagnosed with cancer meets heroes on the field

CHICAGO - Thursday was a very special day for a remarkable young Bears fan.

The team named 14-year-old Colin Brousseau this week's Bears Champion of the Game, a program with the Make-A-Wish foundation to make peoples' dreams come true.

"It was a really cool time," Colin said after getting VIP access to Bears practice. "I was able to meet all the players and watch how all of them were playing."

Brousseau was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2021 and used sports as a huge motivator during chemo.

"I was able to watch football," he said. "It's one of my favorite things to do: watch highlights of football. And I would also play catch with my friends and that would help me out when I was going through cancer."

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Colin himself is an athlete, playing travel basketball, and outside linebacker for the Lemont Hornets football team. Colin and three of his friends got to meet the whole team Thursday, including Colin's favorite player: quarterback Justin Fields.

"I asked him how his season's going. He told me 'pretty good.' I feel like he's going to do pretty good this season and I'm really looking forward to watching him play," he said.

Fields likely took some inspiration from Colin as well, described by the Bears as a fighter who uses the same resilience and determination playing sports as he did to fight cancer.

As he gets set to be honored at halftime of this weekend's pre-season game against the Bills, Colin offered this advice:  "Never give up and always have a positive mindset whenever you're going through something."

It has now been two years since Colin's diagnosis. He said he's been able to maintain that positive mindset since then, and his love for football has been a huge part of that.