Covering Purple Power games at West Ottawa, Hope College and other places each season had unfortunately numbed me a little bit to the issue.
Not because I don't think cancer research is an important issue - it is extremely important.
It is not because my family hasn't been touched by cancer. It has - a lot.
For me, it has just become something I write about sometimes up to 10 times a year and naturally, I can get stuck going through the motions.
Not this time.
The West Ottawa Purple Power basketball games were on Tuesday, Feb. 17. By a complete coincidence, my mindset was reignited by a letter I received just the night before.
It was a letter from my late grandfather to me.
My grandfather, Liberato Daniel D'Addona, died when I was just 4 from stomach cancer. The letter was part of a folder full of papers, mostly report cards and such that my parents were giving me because they are moving out of my childhood home.
The letter stopped me in my tracks - and moved me to tears.
"To my dearest grandson Daniel Paul from Grandpa D'Addona. Heaven calls me but I will always be with you and will always love you."
If I ever saw that letter before, it was when I was 4, and while I remember being sad that he died, I was mostly shielded from his battle with stomach cancer.
But this was a letter from the beyond, coming to me perhaps when I needed it most.
What a gift.
I was the oldest grandchild at 4, and though he eventually had eight grandchildren, my baby brother and I were the only ones he met, and I was the only one who could talk and interact with him.
But there is so much I never experienced, and he never experienced with me. He died at 59 when his brothers reached 82, 99, 99 and his sister reached 90.
His brothers looked after me and acted like surrogate grandfathers to me my entire life until this past year, when my last great uncle passed at 99 and my grandmother at 96.
That is 40 years after my grandfather passed.
Our family has grown by dozens and by generations since then. He missed that, while his wife saw it all until last year. I believe they are finally reunited now.
I can only imagine what he would think of how we all turned out.
I am told we had a close bond, which makes sense. But I was so young, I really only have three vivid memories of him.
Now, this letter has given me another.
How can I be going through the motions after reading something like that?
I was reinvigorated by the games - and even wore purple.
The West Ottawa players had a name on the back of their jerseys, someone close to them that they are playing for.
This year, mine could say many names, including Grandma Hoff, aunt Connie, aunt Sandy or cousin Kayla, who is currently battling a relapse.
But this year, I can't help but be focused on my grandfather, and that is a gift this Purple Power game gave me - and I will be forever grateful.
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’[email protected]. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Dan D'Addona's passion for Purple Power back after grandfather letter