DePaul basketball rallies around 20-year-old student manager battling cancer: 'Aameer is getting what he put out'
CHICAGO - In the Northwestern Memorial Hospital room, there is one frequent sound.
From the speaker next to Aameer Sahi's bed, a voice dictates the play by play of a basketball broadcast in the dimly lit 14th-floor room. On Saturday, it was Iowa State versus Kansas State.
The most important games, which shouldn't be interrupted, of course, are DePaul's - and often teeth-gritting losses by the Bulls. But any game serves its purpose to fill Sahi's day with some joy and memories of life before this room.
"I just love basketball," he said.
Sahi, a 20-year-old with a thick black beard and dark-rimmed glasses, was a student manager for the DePaul men's basketball team for two years. His hospital room is filled with telltale signs of his passion: A mini basketball hoop on the bathroom door, where he shoots while holding on to a walker to build strength. An encased white basketball signed by the members of the DePaul team on a desk under the TV. A pair of blue shoes signed by senior guard Max Strus, who wore them in
