Aftermath of Caitlin Clark's collision had Iowa star sharing warm moment with special kid Landon McChesney who suffers from rare genetic disorder
Iowa's Sunday loss to Ohio State ended on an even more bitter note with Caitlin Clark's collision with a Buckeyes fan. It was a bittersweet game for the star Hawkeyes player, given that she put in the best performance of her career, netting 45 points and recording seven assists and three rebounds. The game ended in heartbreak for the Iowa, losing 100-92 in overtime.
Caitlin Clark's collision incident made the rounds around the internet and raised questions regarding the safety of players during victory celebrations. The video shows that the incident was accidental, as Clark seems to run into the fan's blind spot.
Some better news came out on the game's aftermath, as Clark confirmed during the press conference that she was OK and was even seen sharing a special moment with Ohio State fan Landon McChesney.
McChesney suffers from a rare genetic condition that wasn't even discovered before 2016. The Buckeyes have thrown their full support behind his fundraising efforts, and Landon is a recurring sight at their games.
Fans breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Caitlin Clark doing OK
On Monday, a picture of Caitlin Clark with Landon McChesney made the rounds through X (formerly Twitter). The image shows Clark alongside McChesney in his wheelchair, smiling infront of one of the team buses. The post also added that McChesney gifted Clark a bracelet.
Fans expressed their relief after Caitlin Clark's collision, knowing that she was doing fine after the close call:
Someone congratulated Clark for her sportsmanship:
Others thought that we should know more about this encounter than Caitlin Clark's collision:
Some fans thought that Caitlin Clark's collision was entirely the player's fault:
A fan pointed out that Clark was a hell of a person and that she doesn't deserve the flak she's getting from some:
A fan commended Caitlin Clark for taking the time to meet with a rival fan after such a heartbreaking defeat:
A beautiful moment after Caitlin Clark's collision: Landon McChesney meets Caitlin Clark
Clark met with a very special fan after the OSU game, Landon McChesney. He suffers from a rare genetic condition that mutated his protein-coding TBCD gene. This makes it difficult for him to walk without assistance and impairs his speech, but his spirit remains undeterred. The kid is a fan of the Ohio State Buckeyes, especially the women's basketball team, and the players love him back.
His relationship with the school goes back to 2021 when his father used ESPN's "College GameDay" platform to make viral the campaign for his kid to raise the money necessary to enter a clinical trial.
Desperate to make the fundraising campaign known, Mike McChesney drove to Ann Arbor for the "College GameDay" edition for that year's clash between Michigan and Ohio State. He stood behind the set with a sign alluding to his kid's fundraiser, and the campaign went viral.
The women's basketball has really gotten behind Landon's fundraising efforts, attending several of his activities. In a May 2023 article for the Ohio State Alumni Magazine, guard Rikki Harris explained how the team feels about him:
“The team loves being around him, it just makes us happy to see him happy.”
Caitlin Clark's meeting with Landon McChesney is just another chapter of a heartwarming story.