Despite their health struggles, kids at Seattle Children's cheer on the Hawks

SEATTLE -- Despite their struggle against cancer, the kids at Seattle Children's couldn't be more excited for this Sunday's Seahawks playoff game.

In fact, many of the kids have been visited by the players this season, making the NFC Championship game so much more personal to watch.

They don’t need to be in the stadium to cheer on their favorite players.

“Just play like it’s the Super Bowl,” Dane Bowman-Weston said.

“The defense should do their best,” Kennedy O’Day said.



The only girl on her football team, 8 year-old Kennedy, knows a thing or two about the game.

“I was the tallest girl on the team, too,” Kennedy said.

These days her fight is on another field -- cancer is her greatest opponent now.

"Sometimes I cry about missing home and missing my little doggie," Kennedy said.

But Kennedy and all the other kids at Seattle Children's know they are stronger than cancer.

“Keep working hard, don’t give up,” Dane said.

Dane wants to be a Seahawks player one day.

"I like Richard Sherman and Doug Baldwin because I played their positions,” Dane said.

And their heroes took time out of a busy season to sit by their bedside.

Dane couldn’t tell you what he said to them but he will never forget how it felt.

“It makes me feel special,” Dane said.

“I was super nervous so I had my mouth open,” Maria Moore said.

A framed photo captured quarterback Russell Wilson`s visit to Maria in November.  On Friday. she was still smiling.

“To have somebody they see on TV all the time to come see them it makes them feel special,” Maria’s father, Thomas Moore, said.

The players’ visits distracted them from their struggles.

Now it’s their turn to support their Hawks.

“I love them so much I want to marry one of them,” Kennedy said.

Which one?

Russell Wilson, of course.