The New England Patriots are rooting for super fan, Kara Doolittle, from Connecticut to beat cancer.
“I will cancel going to my friend’s weddings if the Patriots are in the playoffs. No offense to them,” she said laughing.
The 33-year-old has been cheering for the team since she was a little girl, but now there’s been a change in possession: the Patriots are rooting for her after her recent breast cancer diagnosis.
“I was having a very down day and I was like 'you know what, I’m going to go to Twitter, whatever, it’s my coping mechanism' and I said 'Brandon Bolden can beat cancer, so can I' and he wrote back immediately..." Doolittle said.
"...and then the Patriots wrote, 'We’re rooting for you,'” said Doolittle.
This week, the team invited her to tour Gillette Stadium, but like any savvy coach, they had something bigger up their sleeve. She got quite the surprise from the owner of the team.
“I was taking photos and all of a sudden, Robert Kraft was walking out at a hallway at the same time I was. I fell on the ground like a crazy person. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it," she said.
And that wasn’t all; they gave her gifts and she got to meet some guys on the gridiron too.
“Damien Harris whose is one of my favorite players, so it was great to meet them. They are very tall. I’m very short," Doolittle said.
It’s been a long road for this Bristol resident, she broke her back and legs after a fall from a ropes course a couple of years ago. A CT scan after one of her many surgeries recently discovered her breast cancer.
She’s currently waiting to learn if chemo is the next step of her playbook to fight cancer.
“To come back and kind of have all these photographs to look back on and all of these memories to reflect on, that’s helping me get through the anxiety I have," she said.
In addition to all of this, her role model to cheer for the blue and red, her father, recently passed away.
“I was wearing a ring with my dad’s ashes in it. Robert Kraft kissed the ring which was a huge moment for me because if I could have brought anybody with me, [it'd be] my dad. I think he would have died if he was on the field," Doolittle said.
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And the support from the pros hasn’t stopped here.
While we were at her house, another surprise showed up: a signed jersey from the team’s quarterback himself Mac Jones.
A sign for this super fan that football is more than the sport, it’s family.
“Never did I think, 'oh hey, the Patriots are going to root for me.' If I have to go to chemotherapy, they’re going to be right behind me and say, ‘You know what girl, you got this,’” she said.
