A Hollywood script writer couldn't craft a better ending.
A 13-year-old kid who beat the odds as an infant to survive a virulent cancer is discovered by a heart-broken football fan who wants to do good.
It's not a movie teaser. It's the true-life story of a South Jersey teen who is going to the Super Bowl this weekend to cheer on his beloved Philadelphia Eagles because a fan of the team they beat to get there performed a stunning act of grace and class.
Cole Fitzgerald was presented with two Super Bowl tickets this week. A Minnesota Vikings fan who had won the tickets in a charity lottery found a story about the boy on the internet. The fan, who remains anonymous, vowed to only go to the big game in his home town of Minneapolis if the Vikings were playing. After the Eagles resoundingly defeated the Vikings 38-7 in the NFC championship game last month, the fan stayed true to his promise.
"I realized it was destiny, just not my destiny," the man wrote in a letter to Fitzgerald sent along with the tickets. "You were the one meant to get these tickets all along."
Fitzgerald's mother, Keren, said there wasn't a dry eye in the house when they read it.
"I don't think we've gotten through the whole letter yet," Keren Fitzgerald said Wednesday. "I call my husband waterworks now," she said, explaining he was so choked up after he learned about the tickets that he couldn't get the words out in a phone conversation with her.
"My son is such a humble kid," she said. "He's been through a lot. All the things he has been through medically, he never said, 'why me?' He accepted this is his journey."
The young fan spent Wednesday evening at a football banquet. He's an equipment manager for the Washington Township Minutemen youth football team -- and they were presenting him with an award.
It has been a whirlwind season for Fitzgerald, who also got to be an honorary equipment manager for the Eagles in a home game against the Denver Broncos, which was one of the clips the Minnesota fan ran across when he picked the boy to get his tickets.
His childhood illness has left him with some physical deformities, but he is 10 years cancer free and now a normal 13-year-old. Homework waited when he got home from the award ceremony. His mom said she put him straight to bed afterwards, though "he's so excited he hasn't been sleeping much lately."
Fitzgerald and his father, Bill, are leaving for Minneapolis Friday aboard a roundtrip flight provided by Delta Airlines. A hotel in Minneapolis offered free accommodations. They will also get sideline passes to reunite them with the Birds before the big game against the New England Patriots.
"I can't imagine a kid who deserves this more," Bill Fitzgerald said.
"I'm always uncomfortable thinking we deserve anything. Someone always has it worse. But if Cole's story can inspire somebody else who has overcome personal obstacles, then I humbly and gratefully accept.
"We're bestowed a heaping dose of what's called Minnesota nice and in turn I hope they receive a heaping dose of Philadelphia brotherly love."
Bill Duhart may be reached at bduhart@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @bduhart. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips