Everblades fan shocked to find late daughter’s picture on her new jersey

Writer: Sylvie Sparks
Published:

Jamie Chandler could not believe what she saw when she looked at her new Florida Everblades jersey.

Printed right on the hem was a picture of her daughter Kira.

Kira died from brain cancer when she was only eight years old.

That was 11 years ago, but she’s still right there with her mom every time the Blades play.

“When I picked it up, I just started crying because I saw my angel’s face down here on the very bottom,” Chandler said.

Jamie Chandler had no idea how the hockey team even got Kira’s picture.

She bid on the jersey in an online auction with her mom and other breast cancer fighters in mind a decade after Kira had passed.

“It was really hard to see what the photo was. I just liked the colors and the palm trees.”

Little did she know, years earlier, her dad sent the blades Kira’s photo for an event honoring fighters, survivors and angels.

“It was God sent. It was supposed to be my special jersey,” Chandler said.

Kira was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was seven and died 13 months later.

She came to a few Everblades games before her diagnosis, and now, more than a decade after her death, she’s at every one.

“She’s always with me. Always, always, always, and everyone that goes with us. Every game since, I’m like, ‘Here’s my special jersey. We’re gonna be lucky tonight.'”

Kira’s luck is working. The Everblades are competing for their third straight Kelly Cup Finals.

“We’re gonna make three. We’re gonna make history!” Chandler said.

It’s really not the hockey that matters; it’s that Chandler gets to bring her hero with her to every game.

“I always search for that hope and joy, and sometimes it’s a Godsend, and when you least expect it, you get to share that story, even at a hockey game. This will always be my special jersey. It has my hero, my angel, and I will always spread Kira’s story and send some luck to the Blades.”

Chandler believes that if Kira were Earthside today, she would be a huge Everblades fan, and she would rock a pink and blue jersey, just like her mom.

Jamie and her husband Michael founded The Kira Foundation to help fund pediatric cancer research and send joy to kids fighting the disease.

To learn more, visit: https://thekirafoundation.org/.

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