Drew Stories

Our family was honored by those who joined us to celebrate Drew’s life on Saturday.

We chose to tell “Drew Stories” as our tribute yesterday, both to let everyone know why Drew was so special, and to help us all move our focus from the loss of a young person to the special somethings that made his life memorable. We hope the stories did for everyone else what they did for us in the last few days – move us from shock and anger to pride.

It is interesting that most of the speakers used similar words to describe Drew. The first word was spirit. The sports stories matched the medical ones, with his full speed, head first approach to every game and every challenge. While several folks noted that rules were often an irritation to Drew, his enthusiasm was thrilling.

The other word that came up was character. Protecting his friends, being a gentleman to his girl (and her parents), and respecting the adults in his life were constant themes.

A few weeks before Westbrook’s birth, Drew slowly walked with Mary as they shared stories about her pregnancy and his cancer treatment. Drew asked her to make sure that, if he didn’t survive, she would deliver thanks to his family and friends for the many ways they helped him during his fight with cancer. Mary closed with those comments, and we echo his thank you for your prayers, your calls, your comments and emails, and the shower of help these last few days.
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For those that missed the service yesterday, a brief synopsis.

Brian Silldorff, who was Drew’s mentor, coach, and friend, led us in a service of stories. He shared his reflections on Drew’s spirit.

Alli Hunt, teammate and friend, traveled from Colorado to relate Drew’s protective nature of the girls on his early teams, his respect for their abilities, and her desire to admit publicly for the first time, as hard as it is for her to say, that (and no one was breathing waiting for her next line) “Drew was really better than me at soccer”.

Jo Lindstrom sang a song about dancing, relating it to Drew’s last conversations that referred to his physical therapy as dancing. Jo’s own son’s battle with cancer made her desire to sing even more touching.

Introduced as Drew’s little brother, Ben spoke of his brother being his idol. Ben honored his brother by squeezing into his “chemo shoes”, the orange sneakers Drew wore on each day he had chemo (to the chagrin of Dr. Limentani). He made us laugh with Drew’s fashion escapades and tear up over his love for his brother.

B Crigler related Drew’s brief basketball career, playing his first game without his coach taking time to teach him all the rules. Drew’s assumption that basketball, like soccer and other sports, allowed him to take the ball away from anyone (“why not – they have it, I want it, and I can get it”) earned him the MFPMP award (most fouls per minute played) and angry growls from parents as their bruised sons left the court.

Kenzo Tochiki talked about the 82 Blue soccer team and how Drew and his teammates were lifetime friends and inspired each other (and so many coaches and fellow players joined us Saturday).

A note was read by Brian on behalf of Drew’s sisters. Their Drew stories will be used to inspire their kids to run faster, work harder, and get up when they think they are too tired to go. Drew will forever be their source of inspiration.

Jeff and Scott Brown, Drew’s uncles, talked about Drew’s first football practice and how he approached simple drills with such spirit that other coaches were calling around to see how they missed him during tryouts (he was just visiting). Scott said that his spirit was evident so early in his life. When our family stopped at Scott’s house for a quick pizza meal, Ben ate too much pizza too fast and threw up on the table and everything on it except one slice of pizza. Everyone else lost their appetite immediately, but Drew simply said, “Can I have the last piece?”

Sean Bubb came from Dallas (flying and thereby missing England’s first World Cup game, we should note) to praise’s Drew’s uncommon ability to play any and every position on the soccer field and his contributions to the winningest team in the club’s history. He shared the strong character he always saw in Drew and how he truly believes Drew is one-of-a-kind.

Brian read a note from Jordan – a touching story of Drew’s southern manners, his protectiveness of her, and her love for him. She sees him as dancing in heaven to Dave Matthews tunes today.

Jordan’s parents Mike and Dixie Dean humorously told of meeting Drew, attempting to be the inimidating stereotypical parents, and coming to respect Drew’s gentlemanly care for their daughter.

Before his sister Mary’s aforementioned final message of thanks, the two of us spoke of Drew’s special spirit, being a refrigerator-climbing, hard-playing, car-denting, joy-to-watch gentleman. We also noted his spirit in his long cancer battle, inspiring other patients by knocking on their rooms and telling them to get up and join him in his walks. We closed with our praise for our medical team and our thanks to all of our friends and family for their support.

So many people honored us by coming: teachers and doctors and secretaries and nurses and dentists and coaches and players and far-away family and schoolmates and childhood friends and old neighbors and even complete strangers who followed our son’s journey on the web. (The emails and other communications from those who could not join will be read and reread for weeks.)

We ended the day with a launch of balloons with notes attached to Drew. It was the perfect way to complete a day about a young man who could jump so high.