Young Gopher fan gets new heart amid support from Minnesota football team

(FOX 9) - When 12-year-old Megan Wagner counts her blessings, she counts the entire Gopher football team twice.

In 2018, when she was first diagnosed with Osteosarcoma she met PJ Fleck and his wife, Heather, at an M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital event and they immediately bonded.

"I remember him looking me in the eye, bending down, and actually communicating," said Megan. "You could tell he cared."

Megan became an instant fan, and the Fleck’s took the Wagner family under their care.

"She was pretty sick and was on life support, intubated for about eight days… and Heather sat with me for probably 25 hours that week. She was by my side non-stop," said Megan’s mom Andrea. "There’s no cameras there… They do it out of the kindness of their heart."

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After suffering irreversible heart damage from the chemotherapy, Megan was put on the transplant list. Two weeks ago, her family got the call that they had a heart available so they rushed down to Rochester. When Megan was discharged Wednesday, she was surprised with more than one hundred hand written cards from the players and coaches. 

"A lot of them say, ‘you inspire us,’ ‘we’re stronger because of you,’ ‘we keep rowing because of you,’ and ‘the hardships that you’ve gone through tell us that we can get through too.’"

Megan and her family have to stay in Rochester for the next few months while doctors monitor her new heart, but Heather Fleck has already promised them a visit in the coming weeks and Megan hopes to get special approval to attend the game against the University of Wisconsin at the end of November.

If you would like to support the Wagner family, you can visit the Go Fund Me linked here.