Diseases Plague Young Fan’s Body, Not Spirit
Before he left for the NFL, Lucas Bolen wanted to give Wali Lundy a gift: A small, silver cross with gold rope entwined around the intersection.
For Lucas, the cross symbolized two friends being brought together by God. The little part was Lucas, the bigger part was Lundy and rope was their everlasting friendship. Unfortunately, Lundy left before Lucas had the chance to give it to him. The friendship between the two, however, still remains.
“There is and always will be a very special bond between them,” Lucas’ mother Lisa Bolen said.
Lucas first met Lundy, and several other Virginia football players, when he was being examined at UVA’s Neurosurgery clinic by Dr. John Jane (who was also responsible for Christopher Reeves) and Dr. John Jane Jr.
 When he was 19 months old, Lucas was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The breaking of both his legs in a double tibia surgery was unsuccessful in restoring full mobility for him. After nearly six years of increasing pain, frustration and emotional agony, the doctors discovered an inoperable cyst on Lucas’ brain, and at this point he was referred to Doctors Jane and Jane Jr.
Living in the region of his brain responsible for motor control, the malignant cyst explains the uncharacteristic degeneration of the Cerebral Palsy—Lucas has lost a great deal of function in his right arm and nearly total mobility of his right side. But the more unsettling components of Lucas’ condition are the organic new developments and ensuing uncertainty.
“There’s been so much regression with Lucas over the past four years,” Ms. Bolen said. “They just don’t know what the problem is.”
Doctors are currently running tests on his kidneys and bladder, in testing theories of a deeper, more complex injury in the spinal chord.
Throughout the cyclical ambiguity and devastation associated with Lucas’ sickness, one buoyant staple has remained: the support of the Virginia football team.
While undergoing tests in Charlottesville in 2004, Gerry Capone, associate athletic director for football operations, arranged to have several Cavaliers visit Lucas in the hospital. Included in that group was Wali Lundy, Lucas’ favorite player and longtime idol.
Lucas and Lundys’ relationship quickly developed, with Lundy and the Cavaliers voluntarily making several trips to Buena Vista, VA (about a 75 minute commute), to see the boy who has affectionately deemed them his brothers. In 2005, Wali Lundy was among several Cavaliers to make a trip to Lucas’ kindergarten graduation, and last summer Keenan Carter, Kevin McCabe and Brandon Albert surprised Amber Bolen, Lucas’ older sister, at her birthday party last summer.
“They’re like angels those boys, they treat Lucas like family. They tell him that he’s their number one fan.”
“They’re like angels those boys, they treat Lucas like family. They tell him that he’s their number one fan.” 
“They’re like angels those boys,” Ms. Bolen said. “They treat Lucas like family. They tell him that he’s their number one fan.”
Lucas was so smitten with the genuine friendships he made that last winter he persuaded his mother to let him use some of his Christmas Club money to buy the team a cake before they left for their bowl game.
“These guys make Lucas feel important,” Ms. Bolen said. “He calls them his brothers because they treat him like a brother. Even coach Groh admires him. He tells Lucas that he has an open invitation to come visit. It makes Lucas feel normal.”
For Lucas, this often overlooked and underappreciated ability to feel normal is much more difficult to come by as he becomes more in tune with the world and aware of the face that there is something different about him.
“Lucas is realizing in his own mind that there is something wrong with him,” Ms. Bolen said.
The parachute of Lucas’ childhood has been punctured by needles, IVs and trips to doctors across the state. Against the advice of doctors, however, Lisa Bolen will let Lucas play little league football this season. He wants to be like his idols, like his big brothers.
“Lucas isn’t able to keep up with the other boys,” Lisa Bolen said. “But boy, does he have heart. We call him the ‘Never Give Up Kid.’ Even his coach says it’s more important to have a kid with heart than a kid with strength.”
Lucas might not be able to run as fast or hit as hard as the other boys in his league. But his heart and determination have opened a pipeline with the UVA football team through which inspiration flows in both directions.
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