The Army of Super Z's!!!--Jessica Warren

A few days ago Jamie asked me if my family could come up to the school and take a picture with the kids that bought a super Z t-shirt. It would be on chemo day so we would have to go early. My whole family woke up bright and early that day! Z day! Zayne had been doing great at chemo lately so I wasn’t dreading going to the hospital as much. We piled in the truck and headed to Springport schools. We made our way to the cafeteria. Dave Pratt and a couple other teachers were standing by the door in the hall. We rounded the corner and they all began walking behind us. Being chemo day I try and brace my thoughts with strength. In fact, I usually wake up to a text from Gina reminding me to face the day head on. And I try to…so when these teachers, in Z shirts, fell in step behind us I literally felt as though part of our Army was backing us. Dave Pratt who has become a great friend and Matt and Lisa Overweg who hardly know me followed us to the gym with a strength I could feel. We turned the corner and all I could hear were kid’s voices. We entered the gym and all I saw was black and white Z’s. EVERYWHERE!!! The bleachers were packed with people of all ages. I almost dropped to my knees. I was taken back and utterly overwhelmed with the support this little community has shown my small family. Middle schoolers were still piling in the gym…and one by one as they took off their coats to reveal their shirts it felt as though an army was dressing for battle. They took their spots on the bleachers and I lost it. All of these kids meeting Zayne for the first time. Meeting the kid they have been routing for and fighting for, for the past 15 weeks! Some of them even said “So this is Super Zayne!” These kids and this community have blindly supported us! People I don’t even know wearing a T-shirt to support my son. Overwhelming! Kelly snapped a few pictures and asked the crowd to give a shout out to Super Z. Hearing all those voices saying my child’s name was heart-melting. How can I say thank-you to two moms (Kelly and Jackie) taking time out of their busy days to orchestrate a district wide sale of Z shirts for Zayne! Afterwards I had middle schoolers coming up to me to give me a hug and say hello to little Z man. Pretty soon a small semi-circle of kids formed around my son and I. I have no words to describe the feeling of them all wanting to see Zayne. I grabbed Janis Sanford and could barely get the words Thank-you out of my mouth. I kept grabbing people and hugging them finding I really had nothing to say to match what I felt. I hugged Kelly saying thank-you and it just didn’t feel like enough. I walked over to say goodbye to Ayden as he was getting in a line to walk to his class and caught his teacher Jackie. As she hugged me she said “Now you know the ARMY you have here while you go to chemo!” And she was right! I passed out a few more essential hugs and as I loaded Zayne into his car-seat the tears kept rolling down my cheeks. My little man may not have known the impact that he felt that day but I know one day when he gets older he will remember the battle he fought…and I can’t wait to show him this picture and say “These are the people of Springport that rallied in your name!”