Why meeting Caitlin Clark ‘felt so special’ to Penelope Pearson
By Isabella Wilson
Caitlin Clark knows that taking the time to sign an autograph can mean the world.
“I knew she wanted my autograph and so I just went out of my way to make sure she had her moment and I was happy she was able to come to our game today,” Clark said after the Hawkeyes’ win over Nebraska on January 27.
But for Penelope Pearson and her mom, Liz, it was so much more than that.
“When Caitlin pointed to her, everything seemed OK for a minute, because this is such a great moment for my daughter,” Liz Pearson said.
In 2022, Penelope was enjoying her summer like any kid would, but something was very wrong.
“She would get bruises, she would get scrapes, but slowly it would seem she wasn’t getting better,” Liz said.
In December 2022, the Pearsons received news from doctors that would change their life forever.
“With blood counts like this, it’s 99% leukemia and this is going to be a long three years of treatment,” Liz said. “I didn’t know when she would be able to walk normally again without physical therapy.”
Penelope started chemotherapy, which kept her out of school, and she had to give up her spot on the basketball team.
“Unfortunately, when her coach asked if there was a practice time that would work for us, we had to say, ‘I’m sorry, we’re not going to make any practices, because Penelope was diagnosed with cancer,'” Liz said.
Chemotherapy was hard, but Penelope knew things aren’t always easy for anyone – even her favorite basketball player.
“It is hard, but I can get through it,” Penelope said. “I like to think how strong Caitlin Clark is and how hard she works to be that good at basketball.”
“I tell Penelope that like Caitlin Clark has to practice all the time, all the players have to practice all the time, and they work so hard behind the scenes,” Liz added. “People seeing how great you are is only 1% of it, right? The rest of it is hard work. We can do hard things.”
Penelope agreed: “Yeah, we can do hard things.”
In May 2023, Penelope reached remission, and after forfeiting their tickets last year, the family got a front row seat to see the Hawkeyes play, and afterwards made a memory with Caitlin.
“Just seeing her pull me out of the crowd, and her signing my shirt and taking a picture with her felt so special.”
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