WASHINGTON — Their unlikely friendship began beneath dire circumstances.
Nitin Ramachandran, a 13-year-old boy combating mind most cancers, requested the Make-A-Want Basis of the Mid-Atlantic to make one among his desires come true: He needed to fulfill Washington Wizards gamers.
Ted Leonsis, the principal proprietor of the crew and Monumental Sports activities & Leisure, felt compelled to grant that want. Given the severity of Nitin’s sickness, Leonsis knew he couldn’t guarantee a cheerful end result for Nitin and his household. However Leonsis believed that he and his workers might assist make that day — March 27, 2015 — among the finest of Nitin’s life.
The Wizards pulled out all of the stops. Crew officers signed Nitin to a ceremonial contract. They invited him to attend their morning shootaround. Level guard John Wall and middle Marcin Gortat spent components of their day with him. When sport night time towards the Charlotte Hornets arrived, Nitin joined Wizards gamers as they ran onto the court docket at Capital One Enviornment. The general public tackle announcer even launched Nitin as a member of the Wizards’ beginning lineup. When the sport was over, and the Wizards had gained 110-107 in double time beyond regulation, he sat with coach Randy Wittman through the postgame information convention.
That day stays a treasured reminiscence for the Ramachandran household, but it surely now means a lot extra. A decade after Nitin was a Make-A-Want child, he’s now a wholesome, thriving grownup. Surgical procedure, radiation remedies and months of chemotherapy saved Nitin’s life, however his Wizards go to performed an outsized position in his emotional restoration.
“I can level to a whole lot of small turning factors in my journey, that being the most important one for positive, a really large turning level in that loopy, lengthy (ordeal), what felt like years of remedies,” Nitin advised The Athletic. “That was undoubtedly the turning level.”
Wizards proprietor Ted Leonsis and then-general supervisor Ernie Grunfeld signal Nitin Ramachandran to a ceremonial contract in 2015. (Ned Dishman / Getty Pictures)
Twice this season — throughout a mid-February sport towards the San Antonio Spurs and a sport on April 3 towards the Orlando Magic — Nitin returned to Capital One Enviornment as Leonsis’ visitor. Nitin and Leonsis watched these video games collectively from the identical courtside seats the place Nitin watched his Make-A-Want sport 10 years in the past. After the sport towards the Spurs, Leonsis launched Nitin to Wizards ahead Anthony Gill, Wizards coach Brian Keefe, Wizards basic supervisor Will Dawkins and Spurs guard Chris Paul.
On the sport he attended final week, Nitin wore a pair of denims, white sneakers and a Bilal Coulibaly Wizards jersey over a grey hoodie. His most cancers is a factor of the previous.
“He kicked its a–,” Leonsis mentioned, smiling.
Earlier than Nitin was recognized in 2014 with medulloblastoma — a malignant mind tumor that principally impacts kids — he was an completed tennis participant who aspired to play the game in school.
Over the subsequent 12 months, he had a robust, loving assist group round him, led by his dad, Ram Ramachandran; his mother, Jyothi Raghavan; and his older brother, Nikhil.
However the most cancers remedies took an enormous toll, making it difficult to feed himself and tough to stroll. He recalled that, in the midst of his chemo remedies, he would get sick two or 3 times every day. “It was a time after I actually wanted some kind of gentle, or some kind of hope, to convey me up,” Nitin recalled.
When his household acquired phrase that the Wizards would grant his want, it felt like a shot of adrenaline. Understanding that he would quickly meet his idol, Wall, gave him additional motivation to attempt to stroll for 5 minutes every day; in spite of everything, he remembered, he didn’t need to embarrass himself on the court docket when he was assembly guys like Wall, Gortat, Paul Pierce and Bradley Beal.
Now, a decade later, he remembers each element of his go to, which additionally was chronicled in a video. Gortat, a towering 6-foot-11 middle, greeted him in a hallway outdoors the Wizards’ locker room. “So, the way you doin’? I’m Marcin,” Gortat mentioned, extending his hand for a handshake. “… You’ve acquired to eat one thing actually fast. You possibly can’t observe with out consuming, all proper?”
Gortat launched Nitin to Wall within the gamers’ lounge.
At occasions, 13-year-old Nitin sounded confused, telling Wall, “You’re such a legend that I watch on TV each day.”
“(I’m) attempting to be such as you,” Wall responded.
The Wizards even gave Nitin his personal locker, between the stalls occupied by Otto Porter Jr. and Nenê.
Maybe essentially the most particular second — the second that 23-year-old Nitin now acknowledges as the important thing turning level — occurred that night time, when Wizards gamers ran onto the court docket earlier than the nationwide anthem. As gamers ran fastidiously round him, cautious to not knock him over, Nenê and Gortat gently tapped Nitin on the again of his shoulders, nudging him to hitch the remainder of the crew, after which ran previous.
Nitin couldn’t run, however he someway managed to maneuver ahead and never lose his steadiness. It was a exceptional achievement given how sick he had been feeling for months and months, and that accomplishment continued to encourage him over the following months and years as he labored to turn out to be, in his phrases, a traditional child once more.
“I hadn’t run in a 12 months … since I used to be recognized,” Nitin remembered. “I misplaced all my power to run or barely even stroll. That was the primary day in a 12 months or in order that I managed to shuffle my toes ahead.”
And look how far he’s come since. Final 12 months, on the tenth anniversary of his unique prognosis, he ran 10 miles throughout a exercise. A couple of weeks in the past, on the eleventh anniversary, he ran 11 miles. He’s now coaching to run a marathon this fall.
Nitin mentioned he’s feeling nice, however he does should be vigilant. He mentioned he has to bear an MRI yearly to verify the most cancers hasn’t returned. He visits docs to make sure that all the things stays secure, together with his eyes, ears and pores and skin. He has check-ins at a long-term most cancers survivors clinic. And since his radiation remedies impacted his listening to, he wears listening to aids.
On April 3, about half-hour earlier than tipoff, Nitin sat on a leather-based sofa subsequent to Leonsis within the proprietor’s eating space and advised the story of Nenê and Gortat nudging him ahead — and likewise about his progress, about how he’s now operating half-marathon distances.
Leonsis, 68, and Nitin, 23, have saved in contact through the years, usually over e-mail.
Leonsis graduated from Georgetown College. Nitin graduated from Georgetown in 2023. Leonsis labored for tech firms through the early levels of his profession. Nitin now works as a software program engineer for a corporation known as Yext.
As Leonsis listened to Nitin, he smiled.
“I don’t contemplate him the sick little child,” Leonsis mentioned. “He’s Nitin, and he’s a fellow alum and he made us proud.”
Nitin’s made everybody proud partially as a result of he’s now attempting to hold ahead the impression others (together with Make-A-Want and the Wizards) had on him. He volunteers for Make-A-Want and the Nationwide Mind Tumor Society, telling his story to lift consciousness and educate folks concerning the therapeutic energy of kindness.
“Once I see these organizations and their impression on me, it sticks with me that if I’m within the place and wholesome sufficient to offer again, it’s not even a query, and I really feel indebted to those organizations to do something I can to offer again,” he mentioned. “As a result of all I need to do is struggle for the opposite children who I do know skilled what I went via.”
(High photograph of Ted Leonsis and Nitin Ramachandran: Stephen Gosling / Courtesy of the Washington Wizards)