Children from hospital Baylor’s guests at Texas Bowl

HOUSTON—While thousands of Baylor University football fans packed Houston’s Reliant Stadium to cheer on the Baylor Bears versus Illinois in the Texas Bowl game, 12-year-old Henry Furler of Houston soaked in the exhilarating atmosphere of his first-ever football game.

“It was very exciting, and it was just a fun experience,” he said.

Baylor Regent Jeff Reeter of Houston visited with kids from Texas Children’s Hospital, calling it “highlight” of the Texas Bowl game. (PHOTO/Robert Rogers/Baylor)

Henry was one of 300 patients and their families from Texas Children’s Hospital who attended the Texas Bowl as Baylor’s special guests. The invitation was spurred by Houston alumni serving on a Baylor Texas Bowl Host Committee, who reached out in a cooperative effort to Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital.

“Any time you're working with Baylor folks, you're working with vibrant people who care about more than just temporal things, and the committee talked about what constitutes a Baylor victory, off the field,” said Jeff Reeter of Houston, a 1984 Baylor graduate and member of the board of regents.

“We are so thankful for Baylor’s relationship with the Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas Medical Center dating back to the 1940s. Because of that relationship, we thought that doing something special for the Texas Children’s kids, who themselves are battling with an opponent such as cancer, would be a powerful way to serve and make a difference within the Texas Bowl.”

Betsy Furler attended the Texas Bowl with her son, whom she describes as “the world’s greatest 12-year old.” She said Henry has battled a lifetime of serious health problems, such as life-threatening allergies and epilepsy, and has been hospitalized 20 times. A middle schooler pursuing his Eagle Scout badge, Henry today spends more time as an outpatient at Texas Children’s, Baylor College of Medicine’s primary pediatric training site.

“Almost all of Henry’s doctors are affiliated with Baylor,” Betsy said. “We thought that was a really important thing for Henry and me to realize we’re a part of the Baylor family.”

Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays Email Address Patients and their families from Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston cheered on the Bears as special guests of Baylor at the Texas Bowl. (PHOTO/Robert Rogers/Baylor)

Baylor football’s theme for the 2010 season was “Rise Up,” and the Bears did, reaching a bowl game for the first time in 16 years. Knowing that the patients, families, doctors and nurses at Texas Children’s “Rise Up” every day against tremendous odds, Baylor officials said they wanted to celebrate that same spirit by providing a fun afternoon focused on something other than medical treatments and hospital stays. Each family received Texas Bowl tickets, food vouchers, a parking pass and a Baylor T-shirt.

“We really enjoyed being there with all the other Texas Children’s families having a great time,” Betsy Furler said. “It was a fun uplifting family experience for us.”

Just before halftime, Reeter made his way to section 353 to visit with the Furlers and the rest of the children’s hospital patients and their families. The Bears were behind on the scoreboard, but it didn’t dampen the joy Reeter discovered in that section.

“These kids were so positive and enthusiastic that it made the football game less of a focus than the pursuit of life abundantly and impacting others for good,” Reeter said. “My time in that section with those kiddos turned out to be the highlight of the Texas Bowl game.”

Although the game didn’t turn out the way Baylor fans would have liked, with a 38-14 loss, the university certainly made an impression on Henry. He hopes to attend Baylor with dreams of becoming a scientist.