EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah — A four-year-old battling leukemia in Eagle Mountain found an unexpected community in a group of boys from Cache County.
Delilah Grove was matched with the Valley Boys under-11 baseball team from Richmond at the NixonStrong tournament to help kids fighting cancer. But that grew into so much more.
"I didn’t expect them to care about what she was going through and it is just so heartwarming,” said Delilah’s mom, Alexis. “To Delilah, it allows her to have that sense of community that she hasn’t had, so for her to have this whole team rooting for her, is just more than I could have asked for."
Delilah was diagnosed in 2024. She has a few more months of treatment left, on her way to recovery.
"She’s been in the hospital for overnight stays, probably a dozen times so far,” explained Alexis. “And right now, she takes daily chemo at home every day, and we've battled through some illnesses because she’s been immunocompromised and through all of it, she never complained, she just has handled it like a rockstar."
Alexis said Delilah has grown to love dancing. She recently joined classes. But a few weeks before her dance recital, Delilah fell sick, so they didn’t know if she would be able to perform. But she got healthy enough and was able to be on stage. "For her to be able to do it and to have a cheering squad beyond her own family to do it, really helped make it the momentous occasion that it truly was for her."
That cheering squad was made up of players on the team. Or as Delilah calls them "my baseball boys.”
"It's been amazing getting to know her,” said one of the boys. “The first time we met her, we all loved her and she loved us.”
"She is the most joyful, funniest, cutest person ever, and happy all the time,” said another.
In the dugout, the boys let her paint their nails, she threw pitches and also got to run the bases with the team. And of course, made it to her recital. "They’re more than two hours away to come for a two minute dance in a dance recital,” Alexis added.
When I asked the boys why they wanted to go to support her, they said: “Because she’s our friend and she wanted to see us. She’s basically like our mascot, she represents our team and loves all of us."
From playing baseball with her to showing up for her, she has the biggest smile on her face watching the videos they send her telling her to get well soon when she is in the hospital, and that they are praying for her.
The boys who stepped up to the plate on the field, and in Delilah’s life. "Thank you and I love you,” she said to them.
