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Wrestlers to hold show to 'Fight For Colt'

Posted: Jul 16th 2015 By: Stephanie Andre

A slew of professional wrestlers are going to take the ring on Saturday to battle it out for a 7-year-old boy who is facing a much bigger battle of his own.

Wrestling For A Cause is hosting ?The Fight For Colt Benefit Show? at New Beginnings Community Church at 1401 West Charles Page Boulevard in Sand Springs on Saturday, July 18.

All proceeds from the event will go to the family of Colt Rowland, a 7-year old boy from Locust Grove who is undergoing treatment for leukemia.

Tickets will be available at the show for $5 for general admission or $15 for VIP access which includes early entry and a meet and greet with the wrestlers.

The doors open at 5:30 for VIPs and 6:30 for general seating.

Colt?s mother, Tammey, said the wresting theme is fitting for her son not only for his love of the sport, but also his fighting spirit.

Colt was a wrestler at Locust Grove up until his diagnosis in December of 2014.

?In fact, the last meet he was able to go to, he won second place with a 102 degree temperature,? said Tammey. ?It was that following week that we found out that he had leukemia. He is just a tough little booger.?

Since being diagnosed, Colt has undergone weekly chemotherapy at St. Francis Hospital and will continue to do so until April of 2018.

In addition to receiving treatment, Colt has also had to be transported via Life Flight on two different occasions and has had several shorter hospital stays that are ordered anytime he runs a temperature of 101.5 or higher.

For the Rowland family, the bills have piled up quickly.

?My insurance pays 80 percent, but one of those Life Flights was $28,000, so it is quite expensive,? said Tammy. ?His first hospital stay was over $100,000 alone.?

Tammy and her husband Brad have had to miss a lot of work as a result of the hospital stays. On top of that, Colt has four older sisters who have had to take absences from school to help out with their brother.

?They have had to miss quite a bit this year, unfortunately. We?re trying to get them back on a good schedule again so they can live a normal life, but that is hard to whenever Colt is in the hospital, and that is quite often.?

Despite the hardships, Tammey said Colt has been a great source of inspiration for the family because of his ability to smile through the pain of the past six months.

?He is SO positive. Right now, the chemo he takes is causing a lot of nausea and a lot of bone pain, and he just keeps moving. He?ll be limping along because his leg hurts so badly, but he won?t stop. He?ll just keep playing and laughing. He amazes me.?

She also said her son is eager to return to the wrestling mat in the upcoming school year so he can pick up where he left off.

?He thinks he?s wrestling this year, period. Leukemia or not.?

Colt will need to get clearance from his doctor on a weekly basis to make sure he is healthy enough to participate. They will also need to sanitize all of the mats where he trains to prevent any infection- a task that the Locust Grove wrestling team has already offered to do for him.

Colt?s coaches and his dad are also engineering a piece of equipment out of a kneepad to protect his port in device that he wears on his chest.

Tammey said the extra effort is worth it for her determined boy.

?That?s what keeps him so strong. He loves his wrestling, and he?s a winner.?