Dirk Nowitzki brings joy to children at Dallas hospital
Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks continued his tradition of making holiday-time better for youngsters at Dallas' Children's Medical Center.
This week, as he has done for many years, Nowitzki -- Santa Dirk -- paid his annual visit.
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“It’s rough sometimes,” he said. “It’s frustrating at times. You’re speechless at times. But this is always my favorite appearance of the year. It means a lot to the kids and the parents and, obviously, to me.”
Nowitzki has not drawn attention to his visits, but this year he agreed to let the Dallas Morning News come along under certain conditions:
Per the Morning News:
After lengthy deliberation, he’s consented to The News shadowing him during this visit, but with a request: That the story be about the “courageous” kids, their “amazing” families and the “incredible” doctors and nurses.
He will introduce himself as a kind-of relative to many of the 19 all-too-young patients he will visit, individually, during the next four hours -- a famous, yet endearingly unpretentious one every kid wishes they could have.
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And the children and staff at the hospital enjoyed having the perennial All-Star stop by.
They had some cool questions, too.
“How many years did it take you to grow that, that, that tall?” 7-year-old patient Legecy Allen asks. “You can barely fit through that door!”
“I know,” says grinning Uncle Dirk. “I think I was like 7-feet when I was 18, so it took me about 18 years. Now I’m almost 40.”
Nowitzki. actually 38, spent time with about 20 children and their families, making Mavs owner Mark Cuban and others proud.
“This is the best day of the year for all of us,” said Keri Kaiser, Children’s Medical Center’s senior vice president of marketing and communications. “To me, this is a privilege, to watch him do this every year, seeing how much joy he brings."
