An excited and giddy Breanna Amado started her Tuesday morning arriving at the Phoenix Suns Verizon G Performance Center practice facility with family – and a bright, beautiful smile.
Her special day was just getting underway.
The Make -A-Wish Foundation and Suns collaborated to give Amado a day she’ll never forget.
“I feel very honored,” a beaming Amado said. “I feel very special at the moment.”
With her leukemia in recession, Amado, 17, of Surprise met Suns head coach Monty Williams and president of basketball operations, James Jones, at the practice facility during the team’s morning shootaround before Phoenix played Charlotte.
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The avid Suns fan attended the game at Footprint Center and met Suns All-Star Devin Booker 30 minutes before tip.
“She wanted to meet Book,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “She got a chance to come to practice and anytime you can be a part of putting a smile on child’s face.”
Then Amado found herself face to face with Kelly Oubre Jr., the player she always wanted to meet when he was a member of the Suns.
Now with the Hornets, Oubre walked over to Amado before the game as she was sitting courtside with her grandfather, father and boyfriend, gave her a huge hug and signed a No. 12 Hornets jersey for her.
“It was amazing,” she said about meeting Oubre. “I started fan girling and giggling.”
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She then watched Phoenix demolish the Hornets by 31 points after being part of the Suns pregame broadcast with Tom Leander and Tom Chambers on Bally Sports Arizona.
“I don’t think she stopped smiling all day from the time we saw her at practice this morning,” Williams said after the game. “She’s just been beaming. You just feel so blessed you can be a part of someone’s life. Those kids have been through so much.”
Williams said he has a “soft spot” for kids from Make-A-Wish and gave a special shoutout to that foundation as well as Phoenix Children’s Hospital, St. Jude and organizations that support children “who are struggling with these horrible diseases” and their families.
He was once in that disheartening situation.
“It’s a touching thing for me because I’ve had a kid go through that,” Williams said. “And I understand how hard that can be on a family. It can be really hard on the child. So when you see a kid come through it smiling, it lets you know there’s a lot of goodness in this world. We saw it (Tuesday) morning and (Tuesday night) in Breanna’s face.”
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Have an opinion on the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at [email protected] or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
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