Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

Sick, selfless, inspiring

RAY ROUTHIER

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Ricky Gibson, before being diagnosed with a brain stem tumor in September, played defensive back, back-up quarter back, kick-returner and punter on the Maranacook varsity football team.

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Ricky Gibson, a sophomore on the Maranacook Community High School footbal team, attended an Oct. 18 event at the school's football field to kick off an effort to raise money for lights and bleachers. The new stadium is his "wish", one that is being granted with help from the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine and a large community effort.

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Staff Writer

WAYNE — Ricky Gibson has always been a team player.

What he loves most about football, he says, is the physical contact. Sacrificing the body, making a hit or a tackle, doing some small act to help the team.

But in September, the 15-year-old player for Maranacook Community High School was diagnosed with a brain stem tumor. It left him unable to speak for a while, and has forced him to rely on a wheelchair to get around.

And no football.

When people at the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine heard about Ricky, they asked him if there was anything he wanted to do, anyplace he wanted to go. Ricky could not think of anything. For himself, that is.

After talking to his family, he did think of something. For his team. For the whole community, really.

''We've always talked about how lights would bring more people to the game,'' Ricky said last week, sitting in his family's ranch home in rural North Wayne. ''Night games have bigger crowds, more excitement.''

Ricky's wish for lights and bleachers for his school's football field in Readfield has blossomed into a far-reaching fundraising campaign.

The effort officially began Oct. 18. Last Friday, workers began installing donated stadium lights at the field. More than $35,000 has been raised, much of it by other schools and football players. Campaign organizers say a total of about $200,000 is needed to finish the project, which will include seating for 500 and a press box.

People had talked for years about installing lights and bleachers at Maranacook's bare-bones football field, where all games are played in daylight and most fans sit on lawn chairs or the grass. But it took the selfless wish of a young man battling a debilitating illness to make it happen.

''None of this happens without Ricky,'' said Rick Morand, president of Maranacook Football Inc., the group that funds the high school football team. ''His struggle has brought the community, and the state, together in a way I could never have imagined.''

Ricky's football coach, Kevin Norwood, has always known him to be an unselfish player. But to be unselfish in the face of such a terrible and personal struggle, Norwood says, is inspiring.

''I was amazed at how unselfish he was in this. He could have had anything he wanted, but he chose to help the team,'' Norwood said.

Ricky's mother, Lisa Gibson, was a little surprised that he didn't go for a different wish. She thought he might like to ride with a NASCAR driver or meet a famous athlete.

But she was proud that he thought of others. And she is heartened by how people have reacted to his plea.

''I think it's made people realize what their priorities should be,'' she said. ''As a mother, I hope this helps people re-evaluate their life, maybe think more about their children.''

At the start of this past football season, Ricky was a starting cornerback, punter and kick returner for the Maranacook Black Bears varsity team. He played in two scrimmages and the first game of the season.

Although only a sophomore, Ricky is one of the best athletes in his school, Norwood said. Other players see him as a cornerstone of the team.

''Ricky is the guy that if you give him something, he gives it to somebody else,'' said Chris Pettengill, a freshman on the Maranacook team. ''He's one of our key guys, keeping everyone up, in good spirits.''

Around Sept. 9, Ricky began complaining of blurred vision. His family noticed slurred speech. First, he went to a local emergency room. Then to Maine Medical Center in Portland.

By the end of that week, he had been diagnosed with a tumor in his brain stem. The tumor progressed rapidly, and Ricky lost mobility. He also lost the ability to speak for about week.

Ricky underwent radiation treatment as well as oral chemotherapy. He has made ''great progress,'' his mother says. He can talk again. He has more mobility. He can walk with a walker.

''Still, every day is up and down,'' she said.

Not long after Ricky's diagnosis, a social worker at the Maine Children's Cancer Program told the teen's story to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine, a group that grants ''wishes'' to children with life-threatening illnesses. The group grants about 70 to 75 wishes in Maine every year, said Tom Peaco, the group's executive director.

''Every wish is special, but this one is certainly rare in that it benefits not just him but his whole team and community,'' Peaco said. ''It's touched a chord with a lot of people.''

Knowing that the foundation couldn't fund all the improvements needed at the school's football field, Make-A-Wish decided to partner with local people to start a campaign.

On Oct. 18, at a Saturday afternoon football game, the campaign officially began. Make-A-Wish donated $6,000, the average amount it spends on wishes. The Maranacook youth football team, which includes Ricky's brother Jacob, raised $1,000.

From there, news of Ricky's wish spread, and donations poured in from people and businesses.

Maranacook Football Inc.'s Morand chairs the field improvement committee but looks to Ricky, who attends the committee meetings, for final approval on decisions. After a set of indoor lights was donated, committee members decided to call the manufacturer, Iowa-based Musco Lighting, to see if they could be used outdoors. They could not. But Musco officials decided to donate, and install, all the needed lights and four light poles.

Other companies, including local contractors and Central Maine Power Co., have donated materials and manpower. But money still needs to be raised for electrical work, bleachers and a press box, and to pay future utility bills.

The hope is to have the lights working by late November, and to celebrate the event with a football game between Maranacook and nearby Kents Hill.

''We'd like to start that game in the afternoon, when it's still light,'' Morand said, ''so Ricky can switch on the lights at halftime.''

Ricky says he'll be ready to flip that switch. And he's ready for the excitement he hopes the lights will bring to his home field.

''It's going to be big,'' he said.

Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at:

rrouthier@pressherald.com