Iowa’s Stanzi gets another bracelet in support of cancer patient

The moment was a blur, just how life is.

The tall figure is Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi jogging off the field after the Hawkeyes' 37-6 victory over Michigan State. The shorter, blonder blur is Sandy Harter.

She smartly positioned herself just before the tunnel entrance in all the big craziness of a Kinnick field rush.

“My youngest daughter (Allison) went to the game with me and after the game as everyone was going on the field she looked at me and said ‘Let's go ... jump”!'” Harter said. “Next thing I know we are over the wall running on the field and heading to the tunnel.”

Earlier in the week, Sandy sent a package to the Iowa football complex with a few wristbands, hoping Stanzi would receive them and maybe send a get well message.

Saturday, she just took matters into her own hands. She had one thought, “Get Stanzi a bracelet.”

“Afterward, I looked at my daughter Allison, got a little teary eyed and hugged her in excitement knowing that my son-in-law would appreciate knowing that Ricky had his band.

“By the way, I am only 5 foot tall, but Ricky seems like the gentle giant to me!”

Mission accomplished. Stanzi had the wristband on among his many on Tuesday. Except, Stanzi had no idea what this bracelet was about.

“She started yelling and said, ‘Can you wear this for my kid,'” Stanzi said. “I said, Yeah, sure.”

The band reads “Just Try And Ruin My Day.”

“I don't know what it means or who it's for, but it's on my wrist,” Stanzi said. “I told her I'd wear it, so I'd feel bad if I didn't have it on.”

“Just Try And Ruin My Day” is very real. It's the story of Brian Pritchard and his fight with lymphoma. Sandy, of Cedar Rapids, is Brian's mother-in-law.

Brian has kept an internet journal of his battle on http://justtryandruinmyday.blogspot.com/. Brian said his personal motto while in college was “Just Try And Ruin My Day.” Today, it's his personal call to battle.

“It was something I started telling myself in college,” Brian said. “Of course, the colors were obvious.”

The band is black with “Just Try And Ruin My Day” written in gold letters.

On the top of the site, it says:

“Welcome to the official support site of Brian and Stacey Pritchard's fight against cancer. Thank you for visiting. Please share this site with all friends, family and co-workers as the goal of this site is to help the Pritchards by gaining donations but it will also build cancer awareness amongst your peers.”

Pritchard is in a tooth-and-nail fight with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He was diagnosed in April. It was stage 4 and already had spread to his lymphatic system. He started round 10 of chemotherapy last Tuesday.

From his site:

“I am ready for round 10 and it starts in the morning. I am getting 2 new Chemo drugs starting tomorrow morning. I am feeling good mentally and physically and am ready to fight! We need all of your thoughts and prayers with us this week. We need to just find the right mix that can kill this cancer so that we can move on to the next steps in my treatment.”

Spend two seconds on the site and you'll see Brian and Stacey are giant Hawkeye fans. You may have high-fived at some point in the Kinnick bleachers. That's how the high-fiving works. Everyone one and anyone around you gets one.

Stacey wrote this in a post after finding out last Thursday the cancer had spread:

“I understand how IOWA felt this week after last week's heart breaker (a 31-30 loss to Wisconsin). It was inspiring to see how the team picked their heads up and dominated this week. That is how were are going to approach this new treatment plan. WE WILL WIN, WE WILL DOMINATE IT. (I still say if Clayborn and the rest of the D line comes and just stares at Brian's arm it will disappear.)”

Stanzi has been wearing wristbands in support of sick children since his first days on the Iowa campus. He's met a few of kids through the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics and the UI Dance Marathon. He's also made some of his own connections.

“You wear them for support, but at the same time, they kind of remind you what you're doing is on a small scale compared to the kind of battles they have to go through every single day,” he said this summer.

Brian Pritchard is 25. He's originally from Center Point. He works at Wells Fargo. Stacey Pritchard is in her third and final year of physical therapy school at Des Moines University. They met as undergrads at the University of Northern Iowa.

“I have learned so much from him these last couple of years he has been married to my daughter,” Sandy said. “His wisdom, thoughtfulness and compassion are an inspiration.”

Brian Pritchard has cancer. He feels your thoughts and prayers, he said from home on Thursday. He wants to share his fight.

All of this came from Sandy Harter's leap out of the Kinnick Stadium bleachers. Kind of a leap of faith. That's how life works sometimes.