‘It really touches our hearts’
Lindale Middle School grad parade celebrates a superfan and a ‘fighter’ as main stops
Technically, the parade of vehicles strolling through Ferndale on Thursday night was dedicated to all the eighth grade graduates of Lindale Middle School. But the minute cars came around the corner of Rippling Ridge and Furnace Branch roads, you wouldn’t know it. In those moments, the band of cars became the Mo Gaba parade.
Mo, on Thursday decked out in a Spongebob cap and shirt, is a regular caller on sports talk radio, known and beloved as the Orioles and Ravens superfan by the sports and broader community. Last year, he became the first person to ever announce an NFL draft pick from Braille.
On June 11, Mo and his family received news that his cancer had reemerged, for the fifth time. Mo had battled various forms of cancer, from bilateral ureteral blastoma to its genetic mutations since he was nine months old. Recently, it’s hit his lungs. That’s the thing with cancer treatments, Mo’s mother Sonsy said. It becomes something else. And once it sinks into your genes, there’s no getting rid of it.
Sonsy said they live each day like it’s his last.
“It sucks. There’s no way around it,” Sonsy, 33, said. “It’s awful, cancer is awful. He’s not giving up, so we won’t either.”
In those seven days since, Mo’s spent most of his time playing Mortal Kombat and a 2000s-era copy of LEGO: Batman. His family — uncle, cousins — keeps him company. Breaking coronavirus rules, he’ll say, in a good way.
“Mo’s still Mo. Nothing’s changed about him. He just appreciates everything a little more now,” Sonsy said.
The pandemic has laid added pressure on Sonsy, who works an essential job at Home Depot. Coworkers urge her not to bring anything home to their “little man.”
Sonsy is always suited up in protective gear. The minute she’s home, she showers, changes clothes and greets her son. That’s all she’s worried about.
Thursday’s parade had been another highlight of an exceptional week for the Ferndale resident. Just two days ago, people milled past Mo’s apartment complex to shout their love and congratulations, including members of the Ravens organization and entertainment, as well as Orioles players Austin Wynn and Trey Mancini.
Mancini received a diagnosis of stage-3 colon cancer in March.
“They’re best friends, I love it,” Sonsy said. “They give each other strength. That’s what matters. Mo’s worried about Trey, making sure he’s OK through his treatment because he knows how bad it can be sometimes.”
Thursday’s affair presented much more humbly than Tuesday’s fete, but, according to his mother, being surrounded by friends and family is what Mo craved, and both of those quantities came out in abundance. Neighbors arrived with posters, tambourines and candy pink roses. Practically every car that drove by had a “Mo” sign. They’d come back around, just to pass another “I love you, Mo” through the windows.
A line formed on the street corners, just to talk to the little star.
“How much everybody loves him, I think he knows it, but I don’t think he realized how big it has been,” Sonsy said. “All the people coming out to support him, in prayers and everything. People that don’t even know him, but they love him.”
Holding a basket of snacks was Justice Armstrong, a rising sophomore at North County High, who ensured Mo that their date for homecoming this fall was still on: he’d be in an Orioles’ orange suit, she in a Ravens’ purple gown.
Armstrong and Mo came into each other’s life by chance. Sonsy knew Armstrong’s mother Lindsey Bruce in high school. Then, her son Damien became Mo’s blind aide.
Mo always came over Justice’s house for sleepovers, movies, video games. When he got too sick, she visited him in the hospital.
Mo, who will start at North County in the fall, has asked Bruce’s blessing.
“Cause we’ve known each other for so long, he said me and him are going to get married one day,” Justice said.
Damien calls Mo every other day while Justice sends him Facebook messages. Mo messaged her yesterday, “I can’t wait for you to come and see me.”
“It’s really hard because we’ve known Mo for so long. My family, we believe in prayer. He’s in our prayers constantly,” Justice said. “It’s just different. We love him. He’s a part of our family.”