Jets, Tomlinson make Florida boy's wish come true

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - The black stretch Lincoln limo pulled up to the door of the Jets' training complex at precisely 9:55 a.m. Tuesday, a moment that was being captured with a waiting television crew as if the sidewalk was the red carpet at the Emmy Awards.

LaJerrick Keyes hopped out, wearing tan khaki shorts, a black T-shirt and a green Jets hat turned backward in a way that Ken Griffey Jr. would appreciate. The 9-year-old from Indiantown, Fla., was about to become a star for a day, nearing his big moment thanks to the people at the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

LaJerrick has a degenerative heart condition, but for roughly the next five hours, that was the furthest thing from his mind. At the forefront was meeting one of his favorite players, someone who wasn't even on the team when his parents sought to make LaJerrick's wish come true months ago: LaDainian Tomlinson.

"I was excited about meeting L.T.," LaJerrick said later. "I can't explain in words."

But before he even got to meet Tomlinson, LaJerrick was given the royal treatment. The first person to greet him was general manager Mike Tannenbaum, who shook his hand and took him inside to the lobby area, where a flat-screen television read: "The New York Jets welcome LaJerrick Keyes."

Tannenbaum then led him up to the football operations area, where they had LaJerrick sign a replica contract as a keepsake. He even had his own locker made up - complete with a real nameplate - and the Jets loaded it with a Tomlinson jersey, two pairs of cleats, a helmet for autographs, personalized sweatshirt and a jacket.

"I'm not gonna need that," LaJerrick said on an 80-degree day.

Those goodies were just the appetizer, though, a little something to get the juices flowing before he dove into the main course. At exactly 10:45 a.m., 15 minutes before the Jets began their first minicamp practice and with LaJerrick positioned near the double doors that lead to the hallway outside the Jets locker room, the guy wearing the white No. 21 jersey that LaJerrick had been looking for emerged.

"What's up?" Tomlinson said, reaching out for a handshake.

They chatted a bit and walked outside together, only to be reunited on the field after practice. Rex Ryan even gave LaJerrick the thrill of breaking down the post-practice huddle, leading the team and Tomlinson in a shout of "1-2-3, Jets!"

Tomlinson and LaJerrick tossed the ball around for a few minutes while everyone else walked inside, and L.T. asked LaJerrick a few of his own questions, such as, "Do you like defense?"

"Nah," LaJerrick said.

"You're like me then," Tomlinson cracked.

"Let me ask you a question," Tomlinson said moments later. "Do you play video games?"

Once he got the answer he expected, Tomlinson said: "Well, we'll have to play a game then."

And the two proceeded to get it on in Madden '10 on Xbox 360, with LaJerrick taking the Vikings and Tomlinson hitting the joysticks with . . . the Chargers. Tomlinson got the better of his playmate, edging him, 14-13.

The real winner, of course, was LaJerrick. He couldn't lose on a day like this, especially with his father, Albert, mother, Stephanie, 12-year-old brother Jeremy and 16-year-old sister Kadeidra in tow behind him.

"How much he really liked and enjoyed it, it gives you a little bit of different perspective of things," Ryan told Newsday. "You might think you're having a bad day. It's not even close. It's just a humbling thing."

LaJerrick, whose story will be featured on ESPN's "Monday Night Countdown" sometime during the season, has had two surgeries on his heart, with the first coming at 6 weeks old to help fix his left and right ventricles. He had another procedure last year on June 6. His left and right ventricles needed to be opened up again, and doctors did work on his pulmonary valve with hopes it would aid in correcting his condition.

His prognosis is better, but far from concrete. He was once taking up 12 different medications, although that number is down. There's still a chance he'll have serious setbacks, and almost did recently.

"We have to play it by ear because as long as he's taking those meds - they just upped his meds because he was about to have surgery again a couple of months ago," Stephanie said. "But they raised the doses on his heart medication so it will keep his valves open. So they've determined he'll never be OK.

That, however, isn't a given in her eyes.

"I have trust and faith in the good Lord above that everything is in His will," Keyes said. "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. But by medical terms, that's what they say. But they are not God, you know?"

LaJerrick sometimes falls behind in school because he's forced to miss time with doctor's appointments. His condition fatigues him, and at times he has a rapid heart rate.

"He always says that he wished he can have one day where he can be like a normal kid and do different things, everything a normal child does," Keyes said. "By him doing that today, words cannot explain the way he feels. He's very happy. He's still in here jumping around."

All thanks to Tomlinson.