Browns luck out, finally get DL Dylan Sutcliffe to put pen to paper

From clevelandbrowns.com:

“BEREA, Ohio – The Cleveland Browns on Tuesday signed 9-year old Dylan Sutcliffe to a one-day contract as the team celebrates the one-year anniversary of its First and Ten volunteering initiative this week. Sutcliffe, who was diagnosed with ataxia telangiectasia (A-T), joins the Browns for OTAs today after he told Make-A-Wish Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana that his dream was to play football with the Browns. General Manager Ray Farmer made the announcement.

“We’re excited to add another quality player to our roster as we prepare for the 2015 season,” said Farmer. “When we first connected with Dylan, it was clear he was a competitor who had all of the right attributes to be a contributor to our team.”

“Dylan is definitely a young man who has all of the ‘Play Like a Brown’ traits, particularly through his passion, toughness and relentlessness.” said Head Coach Mike Pettine. “We look forward to seeing him bring that energy to practice this afternoon.”

Ataxia telangiectasia (A-T) is a primary immunodeficiency disease that affects a number of different organs in the body. A rare, recessive genetic disorder that affects between one out of every 40,000-100,000 children worldwide, A-T is a progressive ailment that is characterized by neurological problems, particularly abnormalities of balance, recurrent sinus and respiratory infections and dilated blood vessels in the eyes and on the surface of the skin. Patients also typically have immune system abnormalities and are very sensitive to the effects of radiation.”

A day late but an awesome, awesome story. Our buddy over at @SC_Cleveland and his fiance initially met Dylan at the Browns jersey reveal back in April, when his Make-A-Wish was apparently stuck in the mud:

https://twitter.com/SC_Cleveland/status/588154194957303808

https://twitter.com/princinxo/status/588343979252527104

Thanks to their (and many others) efforts, his wish eventually made it to the front office and finally became a reality yesterday. They held a presser, Dylan got to break it down at practice, the whole nine yards. For a franchise that has been scrutinized so much over the past few years/forever, this was a really cool move. Impossible not to smile when you see a kid who’s had as tough a draw as Dylan’s dream come true.

Here’s the links to Make-A-Wish’s national website and the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana chapter if you want to learn more about the program or donate.