‘More important than college football’ | Vols fans help young Ohio State fan with rare genetic disorder
Clark can now see one of the few specialists familiar with his condition. The care wouldn’t be possible without fans’ help.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - The College Football Playoff kicks off this weekend as the Tennessee Volunteers head to Columbus to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday.
“I hate Ohio State football,” James Dean said with a laugh in a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Dean’s message is common throughout Tennessee this week, but some things are worth setting the rivalry aside.
Lifelong Ohio State fan Japheth Willmore took to X with the news of his son Clark’s recent diagnosis of Sanfilippo Syndrome. Most patients with the rare genetic disorder develop dementia and die in their teens.
“For the first day or so, it just felt like we were in this thing that nobody knows that we’re in it and nobody knows what we’re going through,” said Willmore.
Then, through the power of social media, Willmore got a response from an unlikely friend – Vol fan Dean.
“There’s so much negativity around college sports,” Dean said. “I said, ‘Hey, let’s see what we can do with this.’”
What started as a fundraising effort to get Clark to the game turned into something much bigger. Fans from many college football fandoms joined together to raise nearly $20,000 and counting.
“It just took off, and it grew and was like a thousand an hour that was coming in,” Dean said.
The funds are more than enough to get Clark to the big game, but it’s also enough to see an out-of-state specialist. There is only a few in the whole country familiar with Clark’s condition. It’s care that wouldn’t be possible without fans’ help.
“They originally say there is nothing we can do, but if we can get him to these really well-known professionals in that field, then hopefully there is something they can do,” said Chloe Willmore, Japheth’s wife and Clark’s mom.
What started as a post trying to accept their new reality turned into an army of support to help the Willmores push through.
“People helping us out in the way that they are has definitely given us hope in the last few days,” Japheth said.
Dean is no stranger to giving back to competing fan bases. This season, he started his foundation ‘Beyond the Snap.’ It started with an idea to buy toys at the local children’s hospital in Norman, Oklahoma when the Vols played there earlier this year.
“It was such a positive thing out there that when we got home, I was like, ‘We gotta continue doing this,’” Dean said.
Since then, the idea evolved into an organized charity. Now, it’s a streamline for Vol fans to help the communities the team plays in and other causes significant to the state, like the devastating floods from Hurricane Helene.
“A lot of fanbases ask why, but it’s in our name,” Dean said. “It’s who we are. We are the Tennessee Volunteers.”
The Willmores will be making the trip to Columbus from central Michigan for the College Football Playoff weekend. They are going to help Dean and other Vol fans buy and deliver toys at the local children’s hospital in Columbus.
Dean said he is working to get a website up and running for Beyond the Snap, but in the meantime, information to donate can be found on the organization’s social media here.
More information on Sanfilippo Syndrome can be found here.
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