DALLASTOWN, Pa. — It was a sea of white at a special Dallastown High School lacrosse game Tuesday evening.
The Wildcats and their opponents for the night, Kennard-Dale High School, came together to support Dallastown assistant coach Luke Beams's son, Wesley. The energetic 3-year-old is battling Childhood Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) a rare and aggressive brain tumor.
On Tuesday, he got the chance to forget about his battle and just be a kid as the school held a whiteout to support the family.
Wildcats for Wesley shirts were worn by every player on the team as he was anointed the honorary captain of the game. The Rams of Kennard-Dale also made sure to let him know they are there to support him.
"As a whole, it's just been really comprehensive and awesome," said Luke Beam, Weasley's dad. "The support just keeps coming in from everywhere, it's amazing, it's just been all over the place and fantastic."
Most of Wesley's time is spent at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He goes to treatment five times a week but has seen steady improvement.
"A couple weeks ago he couldn’t even walk," Beam told FOX43. "Now he's sprinting around, so we are continuing to see the progress for Wesley."
The sportsmanship and support were on full display all afternoon. Wildcats head coach Scott Toman says as soon as the White Out was planned everyone wanted to be a part of it.
"[We said that] the coaches will be in white and we will tell our fans," said Toman. "I didn’t even ask [the other team] to participate, I was really just alerting him to what we were doing, and without hesitation, he jumped in and said we're all in."
Wesley's next steps are to continue to improve daily. He is currently on an upward trajectory.
And as the Beam family continues to fight, they know they'll never be alone with the community at their back.
"The support that we have gotten has been overwhelming. You never want to have to feel this much support, but it's great to have," Beam said.