SCHERERVILLE | The black stretch limo pulled up to the Patrician Banquet Hall and a red carpet was laid by the passenger's door while cheers rang out and cameras clicked away.
Slowly, painfully, the guest of honor appeared, wearing a cap and dressed all in black.
Lake Central football player John Decker IV was in the house and there wasn't a dry eye anywhere.
Saturday's benefit for the leukemia-stricken high school junior drew an amazing crowd of between 500 and 600 people, many of them complete strangers to the family. Love truly was in the air this most special night.
Upon arriving, Decker was met with a hug by L.C. grad and former NFL player Jared Tomich, whose Halo of Hope charity helped spearhead the event. Still weak and feeling quite ill from an earlier chemotherapy treatment, Decker needed to sit after walking only a few feet and stopping short of the main ballroom.
He asked for a bucket, which a teammate quickly retrieved.
Then, in a compassionate move, several L.C. players formed a cordon as John lowered his head into the bucket while guests walked by, oblivious to what was happening.
Once inside the ballroom, decorated with blue and white school colors and containing a large buffet, dance floor and many silent auction items, John was able to relax in a large recliner, where he posed for pictures -- bucket at his side -- and chatted with those who offered their best wishes and prayers for a full recovery.
"Since I got sick, I've realized how great friends and family are. It's a blessing," said John IV, whose playing weight last season was 310 pounds. "I'm at 260 now, but I'm determined to get better and finish my senior year.
"It's not 'could' finish. I will get back for my senior season."
John was diagnosed with pre-B cell ALL (acute lymphoma leukemia) on Nov. 4 and makes weekly trips to Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis for chemo and spinal tap treatments.
"Honest to God, I didn't realize what a real fight was until I got sick," he said. "But it wouldn't be fair to everyone else if I quit, so I have to keep fighting because they have a lot of faith in me."
The Decker family is no stranger to heartbreak.
John's dad, John Decker III, has battled Guillain-Barre' Syndrome for nine years and hasn't worked in that time. GBS is a disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system, affecting mostly the arms and legs.
Any vigorous activity, even walking, causes the body to shut down.
There is no cure and because of all the potent drugs he had been put on, most of which he's stopped taking, John III has since developed Type II diabetes.
Yet, while glancing around as the crowd grew in size, he could only marvel.
"The humanity of it all floors me," he said, smiling.
His wife Pattie does not work because the family also has two daughters -- Haley, 13, and Marissa, 4, with a younger son Ryan, 11.
"The only way we've gotten through this is by family and friends," said Pattie, whose parents, Bob and Helen Scobee, continue to help financially and with their time.
Lake Central's football moms still provide the Decker family with two home-cooked meals a week, something they've been doing since November.
"I've had a blessed life," John III said of his own situation. "With everything going on, I still wake up every morning, thankful for my wonderful wife, thankful for my wonderful in-laws, thankful for my wonderful kids.
"At least we're not all out in the street."
Saturday night's outpouring of love, faith and support was strong medicine for all involved. If you walked through that doorway at 410 Lincoln Highway, you couldn't help but be touched.
"You put everything in God's hands and go from there," John Decker III said.
Here's hoping the man upstairs is listening.
This column solely represents the writer's opinion. Reach him at al.hamnik@nwi.com.
