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10-year-old Blaine girl battling cancer reflects on Outback Bowl experience with Coach Fleck

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Published  January 5, 2020 9:10pm CST
University of Minnesota
FOX 9

Braxton greets Coach Fleck after the Outback Bowl

Coach PJ Fleck told the 10-year-old girl battling Leukemia that her speech propelled the team to victory in the Outback Bowl.

BLAINE, Minn. (FOX 9) - After the Gophers football team won the Outback Bowl, a video showing PJ Fleck and a young fan went viral.

In it, Fleck told the girl, “If you can beat cancer, then the Gophers can beat a War Eagle.”

10-year-old recaps time with Coach Fleck at the Outback Bowl

Braxton is battling Leukemia, but had the strength to give a pregame speech to the Gophers who went on to win the Outback Bowl.

After the game, he told the girl it was her presence that lifted the team over Auburn Jan. 1.

The fan in the video is a 10-year-old Blaine girl named Braxton. She has Leukemia and has become a Gophers football superfan.

Her doctor rearranged her cancer treatments so she could follow the team to Florida for the game.

She told FOX 9 about the speech she gave to the team before the big Outback Bowl victory.

“I told him my story and talked to them about how I kept doing gymnastics even though it was hard and I had to make a comeback a couple times,” she said Sunday.

“It’s been pretty amazing,” she added. “Because he’s been super-duper supportive of me.”

Braxton recently started a foundation to help other children battling cancer. In the video, Fleck is wearing a sweatshirt with the foundation’s logo.