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Thursday, July 20, 2006
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Jared elevated sports
Sports Writer I was going to spend my time in this column lecturing how sports, in the grand scheme of life, aren't very important.
I was going to write that whether the Vikings advance to the Super Bowl or if the Wild hoist the Stanley Cup, in the long run, those events have no bearing on our lives.
But I'm not going to do that. I recently realized sports, as trivial as they sometimes seem, do have a place in our lives.
The death last Thursday of Jared Tomala, a brave and courageous 9-year-old from Pierz, brought me to that realization.
After battling cancer for almost four years, Jared died in his home. His parents, Tina and Billy, were by his side holding his hands.
I was privileged to meet and interview Jared and his family for a story I wrote in April after he was named the Northland Youth Wrestling Association Sportsman of the Year.
I also remained up-to-date on Jared's health through the family's CaringBridge Web site that allows people to keep friends and family informed.
In spending just a short amount of time with Jared and his family, it was evident how much he was loved.
It also was clear how much Jared loved sports. At his funeral Tuesday at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Pierz, Jared's 11-year-old sister, Elizabeth, and brothers, Nathan, 12, Andrew, 7, and Brandon, 5, brought up Jared's fishing pole and tackle box, his wrestling gear, his NASCAR collection and a trophy and plaque to be blessed.
Sports and the outdoors were great healers for Jared as he dealt with four years of radiation treatments, blood transfusions and chemotherapy.
Wrestling was Jared's favorite sport, no big surprise since, he was after all a Pierz Pioneer. Though he wasn't able to get on the mat much the last four years, Jared continued to be a part of the sport by handing out advice and words of encouragement as a coach to his brothers.
While wrestling was Jared's favorite sport, fishing was his passion. He never passed up a chance to wet a line. Last winter, he hauled in a 28 1/4-inch walleye that weighed 9 pounds, 4 ounces.
On their Web site, the Tomalas wrote that after a surgery last February, Jared dreamed about fishing and even jigged in his sleep.
At the beginning of June the Tomala family went on a month-long vacation to Alaska in an RV. They fished, saw the sights and panned for gold.
NASCAR also became one of Jared's favorite sports to watch. Through a favor to the family, Jared realized a dream when he met drivers Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray and Jason Lefler.
Kahne was Jared's favorite driver. Jared cherished a life-sized autographed poster of the driver.
Jared turned 9 on May 28, the same day Kahne, who drives the No. 9 car, was racing in the Coca-Cola 600. It was as if Kahne looked up to the skies and said, "Jared, this one's for you," before winning the race.
Later that week, the Web site said Jared had his blood counts checked and for the first time in months didn't need a transfusion. Was the good news and Kahne's win a coincidence? Who knows? But the joy of seeing his favorite NASCAR driver win a race on his birthday certainly didn't hurt.
We all know that sports in this country for the most part are taken way too seriously. But sports do serve a purpose. We can go sit in a gym or at a field and forget about life for a while. We can go fishing and forget about our hectic day.
We can all learn something from Jared - go out and enjoy sports or go out and try to catch that whopper of a fish. But when the games are over, when the lights in the gym are turned off and it's time to go home remember that family and friends come first.
Jared had that balanced perfectly.
TROY GUNDERSON, sports writer, can be reached at troy.gunderson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5865.
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