When the SMU Football team takes the field for their Spring Game at Highland Park High School on Friday night, the Mustangs will be wearing helmets designed by a special young lady.
At just 6 weeks old, Annabella Spears, of Dallas, faced a life-threatening diagnosis: a rare liver disease.
Swift action from her care team at Children's Health placed her on the liver transplant list, offering hope for a new lease on life.
Months later, the awaited call arrived - there was a matching liver for Annabella.
"We are so fortunate, so grateful," says Alexa Spears, Annabella's mom. "There's so many times we realized that without Children's Health, she might not be here, and we are just so lucky to have that kind and compassionate care from the team there."
Today, Annabella thrives as a typical teenager. One of her joys is painting. And that played perfectly into the opportunity to submit a design for the SMU helmet for the football team's Spring Game.
"This is a really, really cool idea that we came up with in collaboration with Children's Health and our football team," says Nathan Taylor, Associate Manager of Business Development, Mustang Sports Properties. "The light bulb clicked off immediately in our heads, and we just took it and ran with it."
Taylor says they got several outstanding submissions from patients at Children's Health, but Annabella's stood out.
"I wanted the Mustang to be red...I wanted the colors red, white, and blue in the design. And then I also wanted something in the design to represent Children's Health," Annabella says. "And so that's when I decided to make the Mustang holding the red balloon for Children's Health."
"It's very different from anything else that we use here at SMU," says Taylor. "This one is very kid friendly, and it's very heartwarming, I would say."
Now Annabella gets the chance to see her design in action on Friday.
"It's just going to be super cool to see my helmet that I designed...my artwork on the helmet," Annabella says.
"We are thrilled to team up with Children's Health again to celebrate patients like Annabella, who fight courageously against illness and injury every day," says SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee. "As we continue to work with Children's Health, our team hopes to advance their mission to make life better for children and find new ways to invest in the pediatric population of North Texas."
And Annabella's family is thrilled too.
"Oh, I love this for her," Alexa said. "We are so excited. And we've got to say, we think it's just such a neat collaboration between these two Dallas powerhouses, Children's Health and SMU."
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