NORFOLK, Va. — Just hours before the second of a three-game Banana Ball series kicked off at Harbor Park, players were drilling and hammering to build a child's playset outside of it.
The Party Animals and the Firefighters came together Friday morning to construct the playset for a Chesapeake boy named Fisher Blankenship. He's nearly a year old, and was diagnosed with cancer in February.
Volunteers partnered with the Roc Solid Foundation, an organization with a mission to ensure those with pediatric cancer have a germ-free place to play.
"It's just a fantastic thing for the kids," Fisher's dad, Jacob Blankenship, said. "It gives us just a glimmer of hope during this situation."
It wasn't the first time Bret Helton, a pitcher for the Party Animals, has helped assemble a playset for Roc Solid. He's been building them for three years and says he and the team are always willing to help.
"All the memories that we had on playsets and outside with your friends in the neighborhood... You can kind of sit there and [think], 'they're going to get to enjoy something similar that they might not have gotten before,'" said Helton.
Based in Chesapeake, part of Roc Solid's mission is to help kids with cancer still feel like they can be kids — oftentimes, cancer treatments can leave children with weakened immune systems, making it more difficult for them to play in public.
The playset will be transported to the Blankenship's home, complete with signatures and positive messages from the Banana Ball players.
