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Yankee Fan Has a Once in a Lifetime Experience
Michael Sayre is losing his sight but won’t lose his faith in the Yankees
NEW YORK (July 2, 2007) — All it took was a simple letter and the power of friendship. Because his best friend, Michael Sayre, is close to losing what’s left of the vision he has in his left eye, Aiden McGuire believed he had nothing to lose by writing Yankees Chief Security Officer Sonny Hight to try and arrange a memorable day. Congenital glaucoma will eventually rob Michael of his sight, but never the images of spending a Friday afternoon on Yankee Stadium’s hallowed baseball diamond.
Michael, 25, and Aiden, 26, are best friends since kindergarten. They spent their childhood in the playground, and early adult life at Syracuse’s finer sports bars watching the Yankees. Sounds like a normal routine, except Michael was born congenital glaucoma that’s left him blind in his right eye and gradually losing sight in the other.
In congenital glaucoma, the eye pressure is higher than normal, which is caused by an abnormal drain (trabecular meshwork) in the eye, and has forced Michael to endure 30 eye operations since he was three months old. But if you think that prevented from being a normal kid, think again.
“He was an amazing childhood friend,” Aiden said. “Ever since Day 1 I’ve admired him for his positive, can-do attitude and his determination to not let what he has get in the way of what he wants to do. He’s the greatest friend one can ask for.”
A copywriter for an advertising and public relations firm in Syracuse, Aiden speaks softly but with conviction, and his deftly-crafted letters got the attention of not only the Yankees, but other organizations. For Friday’s trip to New York, the Yankees offered two seats behind home plate for the game against the A’s. To get there, Aiden wrote Jet Blue Airways about Michael’s plight and inquired about two free round-trip tickets.
Jet Blue said yes, as did the posh Peninsula New York Hotel to a free room. Since Michael had to be dressed for the occasion, Majestic Athletic, at Aiden’s request, created a Don Mattingly jersey and Hillerich & Bradsby a personalized bat with silver lettering. The YES Network chipped in too, allowing Michael and Aiden to sit in the broadcast booth for a couple of innings and meet broadcasters Michael Kay and John Flaherty.
“I always wanted to do something special for Michael, take him to a ballgame and get him close to the game,” Aiden said. “When I found out about his vision last year, I knew I had to do something special for him right away. That motivated me to write a letter to the Yankees and put together a memorable day unlike any other. It’s turned into a day he’ll never forget.”
Michael’s condition may be akin to having tunnel vision, but the memories of his day will forever be seen in high definition. He watched batting practice and visited Monument Park. Yankees manager Joe Torre signed a baseball. He met Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, and spoke to his idol, Mattingly for 10 minutes about watching him play growing up.
“It was the day of my life,” said Michael, whose favorite Mattingly moments were his eight straight games with a home run in 1987 and his home run in Game 2 of the 1995 ALDS at Yankee Stadium. “It’s only stuff you dream of.”
“It’s pretty overwhelming for him,” Aiden said. “It’s a once in a lifetime experience for him and he’s speechless. I don’t blame him. If I was in his shoes and I had the day he had, I’d probably be a loss for words too.”
This doesn’t mean Aiden is finished. He contacted the Glaucoma Research Foundation in San Francisco to tell president Thomas Brunner about the trip, and pitch the chance to build awareness and raise money to find a cure. Aiden was also able to get pharmaceutical company Pfizer to donate $1,000 to GRF in Michael’s name.
Despite his inevitable fate, Michael lives a normal life as a full-time switchboard operator at his local VA center. Nothing will stop his friend’s efforts to find a cure and nothing will make Michael accept defeat.
“I don’t wake up and say, ‘This and that happened to me’ You can’t think like that,” Sayre said. “If you do, you’re going to be miserable. If something happens you take it with a grain of salt and you move on. You can’t be down. Whatever you deal with, you deal with.”
Article by Jon Lane, Editorial Producer for YESNetwork.com.