Bryson Strong

When Eric Phenicie asked his son Bryson what he wanted for his 6th birthday, he said - without hesitation - that he wanted to go to a Penguins game. But when Eric got tickets for the game on March 27 vs. Detroit, he didn't know that they would also be celebrating Bryson's victory of beating neuroblastoma, a form of pediatric cancer.

"The way it worked out was we picked the game, we got the tickets, and just a few days before the game, we got the call from his oncologist saying that his test results looked good," Eric said. "So, kind of cutting it more ways than one, they said that he's officially beaten cancer at this point. Now it's about educating him and educating us as he continues to grow and gets older. So with that in mind, we said hey, why don't we make a sign for the game and see what happens?"
So Bryson, who turns 6 on April 19, brought a sign to the game that read:
"I officially beat cancer!! Do any players want a picture by the boards to help me celebrate? Let's Go Pens! #BrysonStrong"
After the Penguins Foundation saw a photo of Bryson with his sign on Twitter, they invited the Phenicies down behind the bench for warmups. The players made sure to acknowledge Bryson with stick taps before leaving the ice, and goaltender Casey DeSmith heeded the call to action, taking a photo with him through the glass. Forward Brian Boyle, who is also a cancer survivor, gave Bryson a fist-pump before tossing him a puck.

"Just being that close to them, I don't think he stopped smiling," Eric said with a smile. "But seeing the interactions, especially Brian Boyle giving the fist pumps - you can kind of read into the situation and what they were trying to kind of communicate with him, which was pretty cool to see."
Bryson, who is a Teddy Blueger fan, was the first to jump out of his seat when the Penguins scored - which happened quite often, as Pittsburgh skated to an 11-2 victory over the Red Wings. And to top it all off, the fans who allowed Bryson to watch warmups from the glass swapped seats with him for the third period. These seats also landed him a stick from the First Star of the game, Evgeni Malkin.
After referring to this experience as the best day of his life, Bryson hasn't stopped reenacting all the Penguins goals from that night, and even announces the players' names as if he were broadcasting the game, too. But this is normal for Bryson, who has been a Penguins fan since he was about 3 years old - essentially half his life - as he makes it a point to stay awake as long as he can to watch games at home with Dad.
"Bryson and his sisters (Carli and Eliana) are all homeschooled, so when he comes down in the morning, the first thing he does is he runs to my wife and he wants to see the highlights of the game," Eric said. "After he gets the highlights and eats his breakfast, he gets his hockey stuff to reenact the goals and everything."
Eric, who has been a Penguins fan himself since age 10, has a new appreciation for the team and the rest of the hockey world with their recent actions towards Bryson. His story was shared by the NHL, ESPN, TSN, Barstool Sports' Spittin Chiclets and so many more places that it's hard to keep track. Eric's biggest takeaway from the game was that hockey is just another outlet that's willing to raise awareness to what kids like Bryson, go through.
"We definitely hope to bring awareness to it in any fashion that we can, and we also want to express our gratitude for everything that he's been able to experience," Eric said. "Just the heart and the passion, not only from the organization, but the fans too, who have shown support for Bryson."
While Eric acknowledges that the family was lucky that the cancer was found early on, that didn't make it any easier to hear the news of his diagnosis. When Bryson was roughly 10 months old, Eric and his wife, Sarah, noticed a bump on his stomach. They weren't sure what it was, so they had some pediatricians look at it.
"My wife got to the point where she wasn't very satisfied with what we were being told, so we wanted to get a second opinion," Eric said.
During an appointment at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, a physician noticed Bryson's eyes and pupils were two different sizes, which is a condition called anisocoria. This red flag, as described by Eric, led to the next step of seeing an optometrist in Wexford.
"She actually ordered us to go to back to Children's and get an X-ray to see if they would find any tumors or any masses," Eric said. "The day he was down there, they went and took him back for a chest X-ray, then came back in the room and broke the news. There was no easy way say it, but he had a very large tumor in his chest."
And about five years later, with the addition of a few hockey pucks, a stick from Malkin and more Penguins memorabilia, Bryson is full of smiles and cancer free. He's now moving full steam ahead towards his new goal, which is to play for the Penguins himself one day.
"We're obviously thrilled with where we're at, we're very lucky and blessed. But anything we can do to kind of get that message out there that it's a big issue, we try to advocate for it when we can," Eric said. "And just seeing the overall support that he got from pretty much everyone that saw him was pretty amazing to see. We're very blessed with that, and are extremely proud of him."