'I just started crying': Blue Jays player signs jersey for man in hospital
Ontario resident Carla Norris-Hutcheson says she never expected to be gifted a Blue Jays jersey for her ailing husband when she sat alone at the team’s home opener next to a couple of kind strangers.
She said that one minute, she was chatting away with the group of young men, and the next they handed her a gift bag with a blue George Springer jersey, her husband’s favourite, saying it was a gift to help uplift him during this difficult time in hospital.
“I just started crying,” Hutcheson told CTV News Toronto on Monday. “It really touched me that they did that for us. I told my husband what happened and he felt just so blessed.”
“He felt really wonderful that somebody took care of me while he couldn’t.”
Her husband, Paul Klith, is at the Toronto General Hospital due to liver failure. Hutcheson says she been visiting him from Gananoque for the past two weeks since he was admitted.
Hutcheson said she was at the game at her husband’s insistence. She was spending long days and nights in hospital, and he wanted her to have a little bit of fun and to celebrate their anniversary.
“I felt very nervous. I had never been to a game alone,” she said. “I was scared because you don’t know who you are going to sit with and maybe they wouldn’t talk to me but everybody was so kind.”
“It’s been such a long journey, every night being in a hotel on my own and sitting in a room watching him sleep and trying to help.”
Things took an even more shocking turn, she told CTV News Toronto, when star player George Springer and his team tracked her down on social media and offered to sign the jersey.
“My husband was in shock. He thought it was a joke,” she said. “He is so excited and wishes he could go to a game, but for now he’s just watching it on TV.”
Despite being a huge Blue Jays fan, Hutcheson said Klith never had a jersey before. He’s never been to a game, she said, because he’s a truck driver for Tim Hortons and always on the road so this signed jersey will be extra special.
“We always kept saying we’re going to get to the game this summer, but it was hard for him,” Hutcheson said.
Laura Brady, Toronto resident and Blue Jays fan, told CTV News Toronto on Monday that she witnessed the whole act of kindness transpire at the home opener and shared the story on social media to inspire others.
“It was just a purely kind gesture,” Brady said. ”it was just really lovely to witness.”
She said she never expected that George Springer’s representatives would contact her and ask to be connected with Hutcheson, whose number and name she did not have. She said her post exploded on social media, going viral.
Eventually, Hutcheson was found after her friend in Gananoque saw Brady’s post and knew it was about Hutcheson.
“If my one friend had not seen it I wouldn’t have known they were searching for me,” she said.
CTV News Toronto reached out to the Toronto Blue Jays for comment but have not received a response yet.
Hutcheson said she’s very grateful for everyone who came together to show kindness to her husband and herself, especially the group of young men.
“Paul, Alex and Chris were the ones that sat beside me in the game and they just checked on me and they made me laugh and they were just so good to me,” she said. “I just hope this will get to them so they know how much it really really helped me and helped by husband.”
“We’re trying to be very positive during this time and hoping for the best.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Poilievre says Canadians 'fleeing' to Nicaragua, Liberals say it shows he 'doesn't have a clue'
Liberal parliamentarians are criticizing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre over a new video in which he promotes the idea that some Canadians are 'fleeing' Canada to live in Nicaragua because they can't afford a house in this country.
Canadians are eyeing moves to these cities for more affordable housing
Faced with elevated housing prices, half of Canadians in the country's largest cities are considering moving to places with more affordable housing.
Police move on pro-Palestinian protesters at UBC campus
Police have moved on pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver, with video on social media showing lines of officers advancing on demonstrators rallying at a main intersection.
Infant dies in ATV crash, N.S. RCMP says alcohol may be a factor
An infant has died and three others, including another child, were taken to hospital following an ATV crash in Forties, N.S., on Monday.
'Do not drive': Nissan warns Canadian drivers of explosion risk impacting 48,000 vehicles
Car manufacturer Nissan has issued a do-not-drive warning for some older vehicles equipped with Takata airbag inflators, due to the risk of explosion during a crash.
'Scandals and secrets': On board the world's most exclusive private residential ship
It’s a floating city exclusively home to the 1 per cent, a playground for multimillionaires and billionaires that circumnavigates the world's oceans.
Tessa Virtue reveals she's expecting her first child. Here's what Canadians had to say
Canadian figure-skating icon Tessa Virtue is expecting her first child, she revealed via social media Tuesday.
Charges against world's top golfer Scottie Scheffler dropped after arrest outside PGA Championship
Criminal charges against Scottie Scheffler have been dismissed, ending a legal saga that began with images of the world’s top male golfer being arrested and handcuffed in Louisville during the PGA Championship.
How Trump's hush money trial verdict could affect the 2024 election
Here is how three potential outcomes from the jury room ─ a guilty verdict, an acquittal or a hung jury ─ could affect the presidential campaign.