When the soccer community mobilizes around a cause, the results can be awesome.
Former Minnesota United and Colorado Rapids player Josh Gatt and his family were the beneficiaries on Wednesday night after Gatt made an appeal via Twitter:
Linked to the tweet was a GoFundMe page. The blurb to the link read: “My wife and I just received news we could never have prepared for.”
On the page, Gatt explained that his wife, 25, was recently diagnosed with thymic carcinoma. Given he isn’t under contract to a club at the moment, they are seeking a hand with the upcoming medical expenses. He set a goal of $20,000.
The tweet caught steam within American soccer circles and Dax McCarty, Herculez Gomez, Taylor Twellman, Rob Stone, and Christian Pulisic were among those who did their part to spread the news.
Seventeen hours later, the GoFundMe project had raised over $29,000.
On the list of donors on the page, you’ll see the names of over 35 current and former MLS and USMNT players, coaches, and front office members, plus a similar number of media members who cover the league. Those numbers don’t include people we can’t see from Anonymous donations. As of Friday morning, 441 people had donated in total.
While the GoFundMe page has passed the original target, it’s not the final goal.
“We would love to double the original if we could,” Gatt told MLSsoccer.com via text message. “We don't want to sound greedy. We are grateful for what has been given to us already. We are grateful for everyone giving us ammo for our battle.”
Sometimes soccer makes us angry or divided. Sometimes it brings us together. We will never able to combat every problem that arises. But it’s pretty cool to see the moments when the sport becomes more than a game.
