It's not every day you get to sit ice level for your favorite hockey team’s morning skate, but that's exactly what Reese Cordes got to do Thursday morning.
"He knew what his wish was but he didn’t know it was coming true today," explained his mother, Holly.
She knew how excited her son would be to get behind the scenes at Joe Louis Arena.
"I had goosebumps when I told people about the experience. Especially yesterday when it was getting closer," said Holly.
Reese is battling a life-threatening seizure disorder.
"Reese’s epilepsy hasn’t been well-controlled for the last year and a half, and so we’ve been to Cleveland Clinic, we’ve been to various doctors, tried all kinds of different medications and nothing seems to be working and so it’s very frustrating, day in and day out," explained Holly.
Thursday's Make-A-Wish experience let his whole family escape for a day and be treated like VIPs.
"Just to be able to put that on the back burner and be treated like kings and queens today is great," Holly said.
Holly says her family has been to The Joe plenty, but when asked if he had ever been back in the tunnels and the locker room, Reese's face lit up with a smile. "No!"
Reese attended morning skate, got to pose in front of his favorite player’s locker, and even got a couple of autographs from players.
His favorite player is Pavel Datsyuk and he says he plans on wearing the jersey he got from Datsyuk Thursday night.
The Cordes family will attend the Red Wings game against the Montreal Canadiens and watch the action from Henrik Zetterberg's suite. Reese will also get to ride on the zamboni during the first intermission, and Holly says he's looking forward to all of it.
