This week, the New York Red Bulls signed, Niamh, MVP at the Children’s Cancer Institute at Hackensack University Medical Center to a contract, expecting Niamh to bring the same inspiration and excitement to Luis Robles and co. that she brings to her friends and family off the field daily.
“Since I can remember there was always a soccer ball at my feet. My daddy is Irish so there is a lot of love and passion for the game at our house. From the time I could walk, I too loved the game. Most evenings and weekends my daddy, my brother Tiernan and I would go to the local pitch to play. We always had so much fun and that was the beginning of my love and my passion for soccer. When I was four I started training with the town’s recreation team and when I turned six my parents signed me up for the Thistle Thunder Travel Team, in the spring of 2015 we won the U8 Northern NJ Counties Soccer League. The following September, upon starting the season, I went to the Hackensack University Medical Center for a biopsy of a lump which appeared on my head and that was the beginning of my fight against Cancer. On October 7, 2015 I was diagnosed with ALL – Acute Lymphoid Leukemia,” said Niamh, Age 8.