CHESTERFIELD, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) -
He could be named the National League's MVP next week, but why wait? Wednesday night, some in St. Louis say Albert Pujols proved he's even more valuable off the field. He has fans. And then he has these fans.
"I think Albert Pujols is the greatest person that I've met," said Ethan Schroeder. "He'll always be my number one idol."
Ethan is 18. His girlfriend, Isabelle, is 22. Their friend Byron Matthews is 24. Then there is Andrew and a host of other young adults who sat at a table inside a medical building in Chesterfield, laughing, smiling, talking about Albert.
"He's my hero. He gets all the home runs," said one.
"He is the man!" said another.
They have Down Syndrome. And they are not kids any more. And the medical center where they sit is just for them.
"People with down syndrome can do many things, they just need some extra help," said Ethan's mother, Beth.
For too long, adults with Down Syndrome have been lost in the shuffle of American Medicine.
"I hung onto our pediatrician until he was 22 years of age, because I didn't know where to go," admitted Byron's mother, Mary.
"The difficulty is when they leave the education system, when they become high school graduates, it's difficult to place them within the community," said Mary's husband Ron.
Now comes a place unlike any other in Missouri.
"I think it's just fitting that this awesome center has a name that means so much," said Beth.
When the Major League Baseball Players Trust gave Albert Pujols a $70 thousand award, he designated it for St. Luke's Hospital, to open the Albert Pujols Wellness Center for Adults with Down Syndrome. Patients will see doctors and take classes in an office paid for and named for a man gifted with talent and blessed with generosity.
The ribbon cutting was Wednesday night. Albert Pujols and his wife attended.
St. Luke's CEO lavished Pujols with praise, as did the hospital's chief of medicine and the mayor of Chesterfield. But perhaps the praise that meant the most to Pujols came from parents. Parents like him. He has a daughter with down syndrome.
"Just watching her growing up, next Thursday she's going to be 12," he told the crowd. "If you're patient with them, they're able to do everything, a lot of things people don't think they can do. I can see that through her growing up."
Albert agreed to take questions from the crowd, but was really just peppered with comments from many of his biggest fans.
"I want to say you're my idol," Ethan told Pujols.
"Thank you for getting home runs," said someone else.
"There's probably not enough words to express his kindness really," said Mary Matthews.
"He has opened the hearts and minds of people everywhere," said Beth.
And then the crowd broke into a cheer heard more often at Busch Stadium than in Chesterfield, but just as fitting either place.
"Albert! Albert! Albert!"
"My hero!"
"I think Albert Pujols is the greatest person that I've met," said Ethan Schroeder. "He'll always be my number one idol."
Ethan is 18. His girlfriend, Isabelle, is 22. Their friend Byron Matthews is 24. Then there is Andrew and a host of other young adults who sat at a table inside a medical building in Chesterfield, laughing, smiling, talking about Albert.
"He's my hero. He gets all the home runs," said one.
"He is the man!" said another.
They have Down Syndrome. And they are not kids any more. And the medical center where they sit is just for them.
"People with down syndrome can do many things, they just need some extra help," said Ethan's mother, Beth.
For too long, adults with Down Syndrome have been lost in the shuffle of American Medicine.
"I hung onto our pediatrician until he was 22 years of age, because I didn't know where to go," admitted Byron's mother, Mary.
"The difficulty is when they leave the education system, when they become high school graduates, it's difficult to place them within the community," said Mary's husband Ron.
Now comes a place unlike any other in Missouri.
"I think it's just fitting that this awesome center has a name that means so much," said Beth.
When the Major League Baseball Players Trust gave Albert Pujols a $70 thousand award, he designated it for St. Luke's Hospital, to open the Albert Pujols Wellness Center for Adults with Down Syndrome. Patients will see doctors and take classes in an office paid for and named for a man gifted with talent and blessed with generosity.
The ribbon cutting was Wednesday night. Albert Pujols and his wife attended.
St. Luke's CEO lavished Pujols with praise, as did the hospital's chief of medicine and the mayor of Chesterfield. But perhaps the praise that meant the most to Pujols came from parents. Parents like him. He has a daughter with down syndrome.
"Just watching her growing up, next Thursday she's going to be 12," he told the crowd. "If you're patient with them, they're able to do everything, a lot of things people don't think they can do. I can see that through her growing up."
Albert agreed to take questions from the crowd, but was really just peppered with comments from many of his biggest fans.
"I want to say you're my idol," Ethan told Pujols.
"Thank you for getting home runs," said someone else.
"There's probably not enough words to express his kindness really," said Mary Matthews.
"He has opened the hearts and minds of people everywhere," said Beth.
And then the crowd broke into a cheer heard more often at Busch Stadium than in Chesterfield, but just as fitting either place.
"Albert! Albert! Albert!"
"My hero!"
