Paul Skenes, Make-A-Wish Foundation give 10-year-old pitcher the memory of a lifetime

CBS News

5 days ago

For 10-year-old Riley Wheaton, Tuesday went down as a day that he and his family will never forget after what has been a challenging last year.
The 10-year-old pitcher got to meet his hero, Paul Skenes, and spend a day finding out what life is like in the big leagues, but not after he fought for his life late last year.
In October of last year, he had to be flown to Boston Children's Hospital when he was found to be in complete heart failure. Doctors diagnosed him with myocarditis, which required five chest tubes across four months to remove the fluid from around his heart and lungs. Just months later, he was diagnosed with angiosarcoma, a type of cancer that forms in the lining of the blood vessels.
Wheaton went through multiple rounds of chemotherapy and was found to be in remission, but according to his family, during all the treatments, he was still in the hospital, obsessed with baseball.
Thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Pittsburgh Pirates, this past week, he was one of the boys at PNC Park.
"He throws hard," Skenes said in an interview with the team website. "Everything he's dealt with or not, he throws hard for a 9-year-old. I'm not kidding when I say by the end of it, my hand was a little sore."
Skenes and Wheaton spent the day going through a typical gameday routine, throwing in the bullpen, shagging fly balls during batting practice, and of course, getting ready in the clubhouse.
Once he was ready, he got to throw out the first pitch with none other than Paul Skenes behind the plate.
Since learning he was in remission, Wheaton has returned to the baseball diamond, with his family saying a few weeks after his final round of chemotherapy, he took the mound for his 10U travel team and struck out 10 batters over four innings.
Now, the kid his teammates call "the mini-GOAT" has a day and a memory that will last a lifetime.
"I don't think it's going to hit us until maybe next week," his mother said. "All of this and soaking it all in. We are just so appreciative."