It's seems the guy everyone loves to hate on may just be a nice guy after all. Seems like old Shaun White threw caution to the wind and broke a few rules when he jumped a barrier to high-five a cancer survival who had gotten a trip to Sochi through the Make A Wish Foundation even when he was told he might get in trouble for it.
Ben [Hughes] got a diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia at 6 years old. He underwent 21 / 2 years of radiation and chemotherapy. Before he finished his treatments at the end of 2012, he had found two new inspirations in life: snowboarding and Shaun White. He loved both.
But alas the meeting was not meant to be and White was not able to meet directly with Ben due to Olympic rules.
[...] their eyes met and that was it.
I don’t know if White has caught more rarefied air in that moment, catapulting himself in one leap over the barricade. I do know one 10-year-old’s life will never be the same.
Photo courtesy of Ben Trimmer Photo courtesy of Ben TrimmerHe high-fived them, they all kind of hugged as Ben shook his head in awe.
[...] I met his mother behind the stands hours earlier, before White had hurdled that barrier. I asked Cathy White what she thought of the backlash against her son, including competitors using social media to skewer him for either pulling out of the slopestyle event or not being one of the guys. She felt bad for him, saying, “It’s funny: They will tweet things, but up on the mountain they will be right next to him and not say anything.”
She reminded me Shaun is a survivor of two open-heart surgeries as a young child, that he belongs to the “Zipper Club,” with children whose chests have been surgically cut open. He gives 8 percent of his $15 million a year to the St. Jude’s children’s fund. Shaun’s sister, Cathy’s daughter, underwent 19 brain surgeries as a child.
Wow, you gotta admit that's a hell of a nice move. It could have been just as easy to follow the rules and keep moving.
