University of Iowa Hospital, Hawkeyes come together to honor Kid Captains

IOWA CITY - On the University of Iowa's west side, the UI Children's Hospital and Kinnick Stadium sit side by side. But it's not often the inhabitants of these two prominent campus institutions meet.

On the Aug. 15 Kid Captain Day, however, the two worlds came together to honor children who have fought harder than most football players can even imagine.

The Kid Captains are nominated each year to celebrate the inspirational stories of pediatric patients. The 13 children and teens selected this year have been patients at the UI Children's Hospital - some since they were born.

Each Kid Captain got to go behind the scenes of Hawkeye football, touring the locker rooms, meeting players and staff, and storming onto the field with the senior players before a scrimmage during Kids Day at Kinnick.

For Colton Barker, 8, of Sioux City, the day was 'awesome.”

Inside the Hawkeyes' locker room, each of the Kid Captains got their own jerseys, hung up next to their posters. After donning the jerseys and running onto the field with the players, the kids were greeted with cheers from the hundreds of fans who had gathered to watch the scrimmage.

As music played on the field, Colton broke into an exuberant dance before running into the end zone, his arms raised triumphantly.

'It's awesome getting to be in front of all these people,” he said.

His parents said the honor meant a lot. The family has been on a long journey, since 2009, when they noticed something cloudy in the right eye of their then-2-year-old son.

His pediatrician referred them to the UI Children's Hospital, where pediatric eye specialists confirmed Colton had retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the retina that mostly affects young children. His parents were told their son's tumor was progressing so quickly he had roughly two weeks to live if they didn't remove his eye.

Colton's eye was removed just days later. To ensure the cancer hadn't spread, Colton underwent six months of chemotherapy, which left lasting effects on his bladder, kidneys and gastrointestinal system.

Throughout his life, Colton has undergone 10 surgeries and has had seven prosthetic eyes. He'll have at least one more surgery to further repair his eye socket.

But still, the future is bright. In February, Colton donned a gold graduation cap and gown at the UI Dance Marathon to celebrate his five-year cancer-free milestone.

'For us, it really came full circle,” his mother, Stacia Barker, said as her son ran on the Kinnick field that for years he only saw from hospital windows.

'Looking at the field for so long and finally having the chance to be down here ...

for an 8-year-old boy, it really is a dream come true,” she said.

Bradley Peck of Tipton agreed. His son Sean, 5, has cystic fibrosis, a disorder which causes severe damage to the lungs and digestive system.

Sean, however, isn't letting that slow him down. The Kid Captain says he is training to be an American Ninja Warrior. In the Hawkeye locker room, he flexed to show off his muscles.

'He comes to Iowa City often enough to get poked and prodded, it's kind of nice to come here to do something fun,” his father said.

The Kid Captains will return to the field throughout the upcoming football season, which starts Sept. 5. Each game will highlight one Kid Captain's story.