• In the Loop: Memorable moment magnified for young patient

Seth Bayles was overwhelmed when new acquaintance and fellow Steelers fan Dr. John Stulak gifted him with a football signed by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. But that was just the beginning of their story.

patient Seth Bayles smiling with Dr. John Stulak, each holding autographed footballs from Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger

If their story had ended where it did when we first told it last month, it would still be one of our favorites. Seth Bayles, an 11th-grader in a lifelong fight against a rare autoimmune disease, unexpectedly met two kindred spirits while in the hospital at Mayo Clinic's Rochester campus.

It started when Patrick Quandt, a nurse working a shift in Pediatrics, learned that Seth was a devoted fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, which also happens to be Quandt's team (if we're to believe his tattoo). Patrick reached out to his friend and fellow Steelers fan John Stulak, M.D., a cardiac surgeon at Mayo Clinic, who later stopped by to meet Seth and, inspired by Seth's story, gave him a football signed by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Read the rest of their story.
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This story originally appeared on the In the Loop blog.