Spartan Magazine: The Source For Michigan State Sports
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Spartan Scene MSU's DeLamielleure Walking for a Cause Joe D Walks For A Cause: Michigan State Hall of Famer, Buffalo Bills Wall of Famer and Pro Football Hall of Famer, Joe DeLamielleure (MSU 1972), began his 213 mile walk from Buffalo to Canton to raise awareness for Grace's Lamp and children in need of prosthetics. It's a journey that began yesterday in Orchard Park, New York and will end 213 miles away in Canton, Ohio. Joe DeLamielleure will walk from the fifty yard line of Ralph Wilson Stadium to the steps of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But it's a story and an inspiration that began some 20 years ago and almost 5,000 miles from Buffalo. That inspiration, Joey Funderburk, was born without legs because of a rare birth defect, and was abandoned by his birthmother at a Romanian hospital. Six years later, and by what she might call divine intervention, Chrystal Funderburk was on a mission trip to the orphanage where Joey was living, and said she knew at first sight she had to be his mother. "I didn't plan on adopting a child at all, but I looked down into his eyes and I recognized him," she said. "He was my son. I thought, 'I know why I came here now.' He told me years later, 'I looked up at you in that hallway and knew you were here for me.'" After a year and a half of adoption proceedings, Chrystal could finally take Joey home as her son, and begin to get him the medical treatment he so badly needed. At 18 years old and a growing boy, Joey aged out of his prosthetic legs as well as the health insurance that covered them, which left the Funderburks – who had grown to include Joey's two sisters – in need of 120 thousand dollars for his new limbs. "So that's when I said to him, 'Son you can't sit on the couch and expect legs to drop on your head. We just have to go out and get the money,'" said Chrystal. "We started selling donuts." Remarkably, Joey made 40 thousand dollars through donut sales around his Charlotte, NC home, as well as through website donations, but it wasn't enough. After seeing his story on the local news, the national health show The Doctors took interest and connected the Funderburks with a hospital in Oklahoma, where they surprised the family by footing the rest of the bill for Joey's new prosthetics. Not content to sit back and bask in their good fortune, they knew, much like the Hall of Famer they would soon meet, 4 August 2013 Joe DeLamielleure and Joey Funderburke cross the finish line at the Pro Football Hall of Fame on July 20. that it was now their turn to give back. "Joey said, 'I want to see some other kids get homes. You changed my life and I want to do that for somebody else,'" said Chrystal. "So we said let's start a foundation and help kids in the ways that God's blessed us. Let's get them adopted. Let's send them on mission where they can meet children or help children, and let's help them get the prosthetics they need, whether it be arms or legs, and give them a future." Enter Joe DeLamielleure. Joey and his mom were connected with DeLamielleure through the owner of a local cheeseburger joint, who felt for Joey after hearing his story, and knew DeLamielleure had the notoriety to get the Funderburk's new charity, Grace's Lamp, on the map. It didn't take much for the generous DeLamielleure to jump right in. "Once I heard his story I said, I gotta do something," said the 62-year old Hall of Famer. "It really hit home." "We called him and never thought we'd hear back, but he's so gracious and kind, and 30 minutes later my phone rang," Chrystal said. "He's so funny. He said, 'This is Joe D. Tell me what you need.'" What Grace's Lamp needed the most was a public figure to increase awareness of the issue and organization. So during the 10th anniversary of his enshrinement, the 40th anniversary of his entrance into the NFL as the Bills number 1 draft pick, and the 50th anniversary of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, DeLamielleure pledged to 'Pound DeLamielleure blocks for O.J. Simpson in 1975. the Pavement for Prosthetics.' Starting July 10th and ending around July 20th, he will walk about 20 miles per day from Orchard Park to Canton. "I consider myself a very blessed man" he said. "I am walking to bring awareness and help support those young people who might not be able to walk." "You'd think a guy with all of these credits would be stuck up," said Joey, with admiration and appreciation on his face, "but he is a down-to-earth, genuine, just wants to help people kind of guy, and we need more people like that." To learn more about Grace's Lamp and donate to kids who've outgrown their prosthetic limbs and can't afford new ones, click here: http://graceslamp. org/index.html (Source: BuffaloBills. com, 7/10/13). DeLamielleure Update: A little more than a football field from the end of Joe DeLamielleure's 213-mile journey came the most poignant moment. On Saturday, the 62-year-old former Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills guard rounded the corner skirting the park on the other side of the highway from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Waiting for him was Joey Funderburk, the 20-year-old adopted from Romania whose need for $120,000 prosthetic legs gave DeLamielleure his latest cause. Funderburk sprinted down the sidewalk toward DeLamielleure and the two met in an emotional embrace. Funderburk said he felt like the theme from Chariots of Fire should have been playing in the background. "I just lit up when I saw him," Funderburk said. "I knew he could do it." DeLamielleure had no idea how much his 10-day walk from Orchard Park, N.Y., to Canton raised for Grace's Lamp, a charity started by Funderburk's family with goals that include helping children who need prosthetics. One of the companies DeLamielleure is affiliated with, Zero Gravity Lift, presented a check for $1,000. A member of the hall of fame class of 1993, DeLamielleure has not missed an enshrinement since. He's frequently vowed to keep coming back even if he has to walk, which sparked this idea. He discussed it with former Michigan State teammates Eljay Bowron and John Shinsky (MSU 1973) four years ago while on a 2,000-mile bike ride from East Lansing, Mich., to Matamoros, Mexico, to benefit an orphanage. Bowron, a former director of the Secret Service, promised then he would help. DeLamielleure was touched by Funderburke's story because he and his wife, Gerri, have six children, two of them adopted from South Korea. "I believe God calls you for things. This is my moment at this time of my life," DeLamielleure said. "The 50th anniversary [of the Pro Football Hall of Fame], my 10th year. I kept telling people I was going to walk back here." DeLamielleure left Ralph Wilson Stadium outside Buffalo on July 10, with Bowron planning the route on his iPad and driving the lead vehicle. DeLamielleure walked over seven hours every day except Saturday, which was just a ceremonial mile. Bowron built in light days, which were between 17 and 19 miles. Former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar joined DeLamielleure for about nine miles when he got to Ohio, and together they battled high humidity and a heat index over 100 degrees. Gatoradetype beverages suggested by Bowron saved DeLamielleure on Wednesday, when he felt light-headed while waiting for Kosar to arrive.