No one fights alone Schools, community show support for local teen fighting cancer

By: 
Lisa Ingebrand, lrnews@frontiernet.net

Mason is pictured with just a few of the surprises he received while at the hospital. (Caring Bridge Photo)

Most people in the stands at the Trojans’ homecoming football game could have probably named the quarterback who led the home team to victory.

Even more could have probably named the newly crowned king and queen, but the majority of people in the stands—on both sides of the field—knew the name of a local eighth grader who had been recently diagnosed with cancer.

That night, instead of donning New Prague’s traditional red and black, everyone was asked to wear green to show their support for 13-year-old Mason Decker, son of local educators Lisa Ruedy-Decker and Jeff Decker of rural New Prague. Mason’s brother, Sam, is a sophomore at New Prague High School.

“New Prague’s Football Coach (Jake) Norby emailed us Tuesday of that week, asking if it was okay if they sold some gear to help raise some donations in honor of Mason. He also asked for some photos of Mason to put up on the scoreboard,” explained Mason’s mom, Lisa. “We were surprised, but touched by the idea and talked with Mason about it. Being a 13-year-old boy, he felt a little weird about all the attention, but he said, ‘Okay.’”

Mason and his family weren’t able to attend the homecoming football game due to a rigid treatment schedule, but family friends kept the Deckers aware of the tide of green-clad spectators and the players, cheerleaders, and band members who were sporting special green face paint or other green items in Mason’s honor.

“They sent us pictures and videos of all these people wearing green for Mason. It was amazing,” she stated.

Having been alerted to the night’s “Go Green for Mason” theme, Northfield Raider fans also wore green and hung a large banner that read: “No one fights alone.”

“We were blown away by Northfield’s response and support,” Lisa stated. “We contacted the Northfield Schools and let them know how much their support means to us. Theirs was truly a class act.”

In addition to the show of....

To see more on this story pick up the Ocotber 7, 2021 print edition of The New Prague Times or the Montgomery Messenger.

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