Laila Anderson and the St. Louis Blues have been linked for a while, but we’ve only been able to witness this special bond for the last two weeks. Since then, Anderson has attended Blues playoff games, she’s been on national television, she’s fired up the crowd at Enterprise Center and she’s even interviewed players on her favorite team after big victories.
Anderson’s journey hasn’t come without hardships. For two years, she battled HLH which is a rare immune disorder that totally changed her life.
While she was battling this rare disease, the Blues season wasn’t going well at all. On January 2nd, they found themselves in the basement of the NHL standings. But as Anderson’s condition began improving, she noticed that her favorite hockey team’s play also started getting better.
[Laila Anderson bobblehead created to benefit St. Louis Hospital]
In May, Anderson was finally cleared to go back to Enterprise Center to see her Blues take on the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Final.
“She’s special to us,” Blues defender Colton Parayko said. “She’s taught me a lot of life lessons outside of hockey. We’re excited to see her get better and obviously see her at more of the games.”
Things have looked bleak for the Blues at different times during this run to the Stanley Cup Final. They trailed the Sharks in the Western Conference Final after a controversial ending to Game 3 and they’ve also been down twice in this Stanley Cup Final series against the Boston Bruins, but they’ve battled their way back both times.
“Hey, look how far I’ve come,” Anderson said. “You guys have never given up on me and I’m not giving up on you guys.”
You can watch Laila’s full story by clicking the video at the top of the page.
Game 5 of Blues-Bruins is Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC from TD Garden in Boston.
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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.