From Strangers To Brothers: An Unlikely Bond Kicked Off Over UAB Soccer

By Savannah Koplon

Sometimes the hope that someone is looking for comes from an unexpected source. That was the case for Thomas Mackley, 4, who received both hope and a forever bond after a chance meeting with a UAB men’s soccer player.

UAB’s men’s soccer team visits Children’s of Alabama each year leading up to their Soccer for a Cure tournament. It gives the players an opportunity to interact with patients and gain a different life experience. Chandler Stroupe, an information systems major from Birmingham and a defender on the soccer team, noticed a boy visiting with the team and took it upon himself to try to interact.

“The first time I saw Thomas, he was in a wagon looking a little shy,” Stroupe said. “I went over and he hopped out, and we started passing the ball around. From there, it kicked off and we hit it off.”

Thomas has pandisacharidase deficiency, a genetic disorder marked by the body’s inability to produce the enzymes needed to break down complex sugars into simple ones. It causes severe stomach pain. Thomas also has primary ciliary dyskinesia, another genetic disorder that leaves him unable to clear his lungs; it can turn a simple cough or cold into an upper respiratory disease or pneumonia.

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