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Devon Shaw, right, shakes hands with Cristiano Ronaldo.

Wish Comes True: Devon meets his hero in Madrid

WATKINS GLEN, Oct. 12 -- Devon Shaw recently returned from Madrid, Spain. It wasn't a trip taken to sight-see, although there was some of that.

The cancer survivor, a junior at Watkins Glen High School, returned on Monday, Oct. 3 -- after a journey to meet the soccer player he holds in the highest esteem: Cristiano Ronaldo, a Portuguese winger/striker of uncommon abilities who plays for the Real Madrid team. Ronaldo in May became the first Real Madrid player to reach 50 goals in a season, scoring 53.

"I've been following him since I was in the 4th grade," said Devon while standing alongside the soccer field at WGHS during a varsity practice this week. Devon used to play on the varsity, but his bout with cancer and attendant leg surgery have relegated him to helping the team mostly from the sidelines. Pre-game, though, he can be seen peppering the goalkeeper with shots to get the keeper ready for whatever opponent is on the schedule that day.

Ronaldo, he said, "is my all-around hero. I've always liked the way he plays. He seems like a big role model. He's pretty much been the top goal scorer for whatever team he's been on. He has great moves, and great speed of attack."

How Devon came to meet Ronaldo goes back to when the youngster was in the hospital for his first chemo treatment for the cancer that appeared first in his right leg, and then in his lung.

"I mentioned it to a treatment counselor" during the first chemo treatment, he said -- that he would love to go to Madrid and meet his hero. That desire was passed along to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a national organization that, according to its website, "has given hope, strength and joy to children with life-threatening medical conditions." The group fulfills wishes on a regular, frequent basis.

In Devon's case, someone within the organization apparently decided that a Madrid trip might be a tall order. So Devon was asked to make two alternative wishes. But he stuck to his original request -- didn't provide any alternatives. "I thought that if I gave them different ones, they wouldn't try as hard" to arrange the Madrid journey, he says. "Nothing else came close."

It's been nearly two years since the cancer was discovered. Devon fought it hard -- underwent repeated chemo treatments, lost his hair, was ill from not just the cancer, but from the battle. But he came out of it cancer free, and still is.

"I'm nine months out of treatment," he says, smiling broadly. He has a chest X-ray once a month, and every three months undergoes a CAT scan.

He can run again -- although he has a steel rod in his right leg, where he lost part of his femur. "I'm a little slower, but I don't limp anymore when I run," he says, noting that the prognosis had indicated he wouldn't be able to do that. And he still loves to kick the soccer ball, although it has to be with his weaker right leg. "I still can't kick left-footed," he said, a knack that has eluded him.

He wanted to play varsity again, in fact, but his doctor vetoed it. "He told me that his heart said yes, but his head said no," said Devon, which probably gave Devon's mother a measure of peace. Soccer can, after all, be a fairly violent game.

Devon is the son of Diana Crane (who works in the WGHS Athletic Department) and Scott Shaw. His stepfather is Jim Crane. Devon has two sisters -- Alicia, in her mid-20s, and Kendra, who graduated in June from WGHS.

Diana and Jim went with Devon to Madrid -- as did good friend Kody Gregory, a member of the Watkins Glen varsity soccer squad. Devon says Kody had visited him in the hospital on the day Devon made his wish to go to Madrid, "and I wanted Kody to go, too." And so Kody was included in the Make-A-Wish plans.

Word of the trip came on short notice. Diana was working in school on Monday, Sept. 26, when she received a call that the trip had been arranged -- but that she, Jim, Devon and Kody would have to hurry, because it was to begin on Oct. 3. Devon didn't have a passport, but somehow the Make-A-Wish organization got rapid clearance, and he received it that Friday, delivered to his mother's mailbox at the school.

"We thought it would happen the next summer," says Devon of the journey. "But Mom approached me in school" on Sept. 26 "and told me. There was so much to do ..."

But they got it done, and flew out of Rochester on Oct. 3 to the JFK International Airport in New York City, and from there traveled 8 1/2 hours by air to Madrid. Make-A-Wish paid for the trip, although, says Devon, "I think we might have paid for some meals."

The first day there, he says, "we went to the stadium" where Real Madrid was playing. Before entering, Devon and Kody decided to buy team jerseys to wear during the game. While shoppng at vendor stands outside the stadium, he says, a group of young women approached, seeking a donation for a cause, and when he donated a little money, they asked to see Devon's identification "so they would know where the donation was coming from. I took out my wallet and showed them, and I didn't realize it, but they stole 90 Euros -- more than $100 -- from it."

He realized the loss when he took out his wallet soon thereafter to pay for a jersey. "I couldn't believe it; the money was gone. But then we spotted the women up the street, and I ran after them." He caught up to them "and started yelling at them to give me my money back. And they did. I was really upset."

No further misadventures occurred -- and in fact the trip turned to its very essence when, a few days later, Devon visited the Real Madrid training center just outside the city and met his hero there. He was permitted to take one adult with him, so "Kody couldn't go. But I took his cleats and a jersey and got them signed" by Ronaldo.

For his part, Devon says "I got a ball signed by the team," and Ronaldo signed a photo, a jersey and Devon's cleats. Devon also got to meet the rest of the team's starting lineup, and some of the bench players.

The thrill of meeting Ronaldo was evident now in Devon's face and voice as he told about it.

"He played in Great Britain (for the Manchester United team) for six years, so he speaks English pretty well," said Devon. "And he's one of the nicest guys I ever met. He was really personable, and I felt like he was happy I was there to see him."

They met in the lobby of the training center, as Ronaldo was entering for a team practice session. He had parked his Audi in a lot adjacent to the building, "and I was waiting inside," said Devon. "He came in and signed some items for me, and we talked for maybe five to seven minutes before he had to get to practice.

"What did we talk about? I don't remember everything, it went so quickly. When I pulled out a jersey with his name on it, he seemed to like that, and I told him I had been a fan for a long time.

"The whole thing was definitely positive. It was everything I imagined; and he was a lot nicer than I imagined.

"It was so cool," Devon added. "I feel like the whole thing was just a dream. It was definitely the opportunity of a lifetime."

Photos in text:

Top: Devon poses next to Ronaldo's Audi outside the training center.

Second: Devon and Ronaldo.

Third: The stadium where Real Madrid plays its games.

Fourth: Devon with Real Madrid's Kaká, a Brazilian midfielder.

Fifth: Devon, right, with friend Kody Gregory, who went on the trip, too.