Catching Up With Kay

ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - The UCF softball team caught up with Kay Clark, its Friends of Jaclyn honorary teammate, on Monday when the team spent the day at SeaWorld.

At the age of 3, Kay was diagnosed with a brain tumor in her right cerebellum and had her first surgery in May 2004. She has had multiple surgeries to date but continues to be an everyday kid.

Kay has been with the team since 2009 where she has been the bat-girl for many games, has had her own locker in the team locker room and participates in many team activities.

"She is a very smart girl and we are so excited to hear that she has had a clean bill of health for the last nine years and are fortunate that she has been able to stay with the team for as long as she has," said Head Coach Renee Luers-Gillispie. "We try to get her involved in all the different activities we do as a team. When we do cookouts and tailgates with our team and parents, we always make sure she is invited and joins us. Her and her mom are also at any game they can get to and altogether it's great to have her here."

The Friends of Jaclyn Foundation is a 501(c)(3), non-profit, charitable organization that improves the quality of life for children with pediatric brain tumors and their families by matching each child with a collegiate or high school athletic team. FOJ was formed in 2004 and has grown tremendously over the past 10 years.

 "SeaWorld was a great way for us to spend time with Kay," said freshman pitcher, Cierra Word. "She is a great kid and we love talking to her and getting to know her more and more."

"We try to do more for her now as she gets older and the team has taken the role of being mentors for her to help her through her teenage years and onto college," stated Luers-Gillispie.

The FOJ motto is "Live in the moment...Play in the moment" and UCF softball and Kay work together to pursue the FOJ's vision. FOJ has completed over 230 adoptions in over 20 different sports and it currently has over 1,000 schools on a waiting list as FOJ grows from a small organization into a larger one.

Each year, UCF softball hosts a Friends of Jaclyn tournament to honor and help raise money for the organization.

"Kay is able to show the team how fortunate they are to have what they have and to be able to have the opportunity to play softball, have a scholarship, and go to college and a lot of kids don't have that opportunity so she is teaching them how to be there for somebody else and be appreciative," said Luers-Gillispie.

"She knows we are always here to talk with her about anything and everything. As a team, we know that UCF softball is something for her to come to and feel like a family," added Word.

The Foundation was inspired by Jaclyn Murphy, who was diagnosed with a medulloblastoma, in March 2004, when she was nine-years-old. Jaclyn's strength and courage, relentless spirit and joy for life are an inspiration to those who know her. Jaclyn's wish is "for all the children in the hospitals to be healed." Jaclyn was adopted by the Northwestern women's lacrosse team.