“Had so much fun with this little peanut”: Dan Hurley’s wife Andrea posts wholesome message for kid suffering from life-threatening disorder
Andrea Hurley, the wife of UConn men's basketball coach Dan Hurley, is grateful for a time well spent at the Connecticut Children’s Foundation. She visited the foundation with her husband and the team, where they met one of the patients, Daniela, who suffers from thalassemia, a life-threatening blood disorder.
According to Daniela's Instagram post, the team had an "amazing" two hours with her as she sang, danced and got autographs.
After the visit, Andrea posted a photo of her hugging the little girl on her Instagram story, with a sweet caption:
"Had so much fun with this little peanut and UCONN MBB today!!"
Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder that causes the body to have less hemoglobin than normal. Hemoglobin enables red blood cells to carry oxygen. Symptoms include fatigue, weakness, paleness, slow growth, abdominal swelling and dark urine.
Mild symptoms may not require treatment, but severe symptoms require an urgent blood transfusion or a donor stem-cell transplant. This condition is often diagnosed within the first six months of life and can be fatal in childhood without urgent treatment.
Dan Hurley's UConn bounces back after rough week in Maui
Dan Hurley's No. 18 UConn had a week to forget at the Maui Invitational as the Huskies lost all three games they played. The defending national champions lost 99-97 to Memphis, 73-72 to Colorado and 85-67 to Dayton.
Hurley, who made headlines for his outbursts during the games, made it clear that he was never going to do another three-game multi-team event again.
"I'm not doing another three-game MTE again," he said, according to Sports Illustrated. "Moving forward, we will only play home-and-home games or single-game events. ... I don't think I'll ever do a three-game MTE again. There's zero chance I ever do that again."
However, the Huskies seem to have put their embarrassing outing in Hawaii behind them and have produced three wins in their last three games.
UConn (7-3) crushed the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks 99-45 on Nov. 30, with freshman Liam McNeeley and Jaylin Stewart dropping 16 points each. Solo Ball contributed 12 points while Aidan Mahaney finished with 11 points.
The Huskies followed that performance with a 76-72 win over the then-No. 15 Baylor Bears on Wednesday. UConn came back from an 11-point deficit early in the game to preserve its unbeaten record at home.
On Sunday, UConn made it three straight wins by beating the Texas Longhorns 76-65. Alex Karaban was the star of the show, coming back from an injury to post 21 points and 11 rebounds.
Next, UConn expects to make it a fourth consecutive win as the Huskies face No. 8 Gonzaga on Sunday.