WEST HAVEN, Utah -- A little league football team has been playing with a purpose, thanks to a role model who has given meaning to the West Haven team’s season.
Win or lose, the West Haven Grizzlies play for Angie.
Angie Muirbrook, the wife of the team’s coach, was diagnosed with breast cancer four years ago. But, this year has been the hardest.
"They haven’t given me long to live, and I just know, the last little while, I’ve done so well is because of this,” Muirbrook said. “I told my husband at the first of the year, 'I’ve got to make it through football season,' and I have. This was the last game, and the last one they’ll play this season, so I’ve made it through football season now."
Sporting pink all season long, the team is learning lessons on and off the field.
"Myself and my wife, we’ve taught our kids through this adversity that we’ve gone through that: You don’t look back. You just keep looking forward to the next day,” Coach Mike Muirbrook said.
The lessons inspired by Angie's battle are even spreading beyond the team.
"The last, probably, six weeks, all the opposing teams have done something different, anywhere from roses, to hearts with names and numbers on them,” Angie Muirbrook said.
As the Grizzlies faced their last opponent of the season Saturday, Angie is furiously fighting for her life.
"[Friday] they have given my wife about a month, and to this game today, at the end the outcome on the scoreboard was we lost: But we won,” Mike Muirbrook said.
The Grizzlies are a team that has learned what it means to play with heart, thanks to a role model that has shown them what it means to never give up. And Mike said he and his wife have faith when it comes to their future.
"We know that we will be together again some day,” he said.
