Seven-year-old Capitals fan Sutton Bullard celebrated a major milestone on Friday after completing cancer treatment, but an old friend had another surprise in store.
Logan Thompson, who met Sutton at the Capitals’ 2024 Hockey Fights Cancer skate, joined her and her family at a local hospital in honor of Sutton’s bell-ringing ceremony, marking the end of nearly 800 days of chemotherapy treatment.
Sutton immediately recognized Thompson when he walked in, bolting over and wrapping around him for a hug. After the enthusiastic greeting, Thompson presented Sutton with a team-signed Hockey Fights Cancer jersey.
“I was really privileged to be invited by her and her family,” Thompson said. “Just was a really touching moment, really emotional, and just happy that I was able to share it with Sutton.”
The two have stayed in contact since their meeting last year, a relationship that proved a major boon as Sutton underwent treatment for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
“(The skate) started this wonderful relationship between the two of them,” said Michelle Cullum, Sutton’s mother. “Since then, they’ve kept in touch. He has signed autographed jerseys for all of the kids. She’s written him letters.
“They have just maintained this relationship…Logan represented ‘Here’s a professional athlete who has taken an interest in her journey with cancer.’ That just was a very special, powerful thing for her, to know that there was someone like him who cared about what she was going through.”
Upon reuniting with Sutton for the ceremony, Thompson remarked on how much she’s grown over the last year, though he was still able to pick her up for another hug.
“You’re getting bigger (since the) last time I saw you!” Thompson said. “You’re getting strong, too.”
Sutton and the Capitals will continue to celebrate the end of her treatment at the team’s annual Hockey Fights Cancer game on November 22, where she will ring a bell again in front of fans at Capital One Arena.
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