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The Miller Lady Cardinals are one of the state’s best Class Two teams, led by a trio of seniors.
Yet it’s a different senior who these Lady Cardinals chose to honor.
“Ben was very special to all of us,” said senior Claudia Hadlock.
Ben Holder never got the chance to play basketball.
“[He had] quadriplegic cerebral palsy so it affected all four of his limbs and he was pretty much nonverbal,” said Ben’s mom Amanda Holder.
That didn’t stop Ben from making an impact.
“Just like looking forward to seeing him every day in the hallway just a smile just lightened our day,” said senior Kaylee Helton.
With his condition – Ben had many surgeries – including one in mid-January.
“It was the 13th surgery that the child had had, and some of them were way more involved than that so pretty routine,” Amanda said. [We] went in for that surgery and things were fine and a couple days later they just weren’t.”
Ben died on January 21st.
The next night – Ben’s favorite team played in the Stockton Tournament final.
“[We wanted to] do something in honor of Ben that night and we’re like ‘Why don’t we write Win for Ben on our wrists?’ It was more than just basketball at that point, we were playing for something bigger than just a championship,” Claudia said.
After a championship win, the girls still wanted to do something more.
“We thought of a win for Ben night and was like ‘What better night to have it than on Senior Night’. The senior class decided to do a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle in honor of Ben,” Claudia said.
On top of that – the seniors made shirts in Marketing class.
“325 orders,” Kaylee said.
“We raised over $3,000 just in shirts,” Claudia added.
In total, they raised $12,000 to donate to Camp Barnabas in honor of Ben.
Camp Barnabas is a camp made specifically for those with special needs. It’s a place Ben’s been to ten times.
“Wow, I mean this is home,” Amanda said. “It’s big that they’re rallying behind us like this. It’s a great feeling.”
It’s a group of kids coming together – turning heartbreak into healing.
“These girls, these high school girls saw the bigger picture right away and it wasn’t about them,” said Miller Head Coach Sean Price. “It wasn’t to shine any light on them. It was to shine a light on Ben’s life.”
