Rangers honor cause close to Desmond’s heart

ARLINGTON — Ian Desmond created his Twitter account in 2012, and shortly after connected with a then-17-year-old boy named Ethan Brown, who had been asking for prayers.

Brown was living with Neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body, and currently doesn’t have a cure.

Desmond and Brown traded messages on Twitter, and from there a friendship was born.

“The closer I got to him, the more I saw how it affected his life, so I learned more about the disorder and disease,” Desmond said. “I just realized how many people it affects and what kind of impact it has on your life.”

The Rangers held their Children’s Tumor Awareness Foundation Day Sunday at Globe Life Park.

Before the game against the Pirates, Desmond was joined on the field by Neurofibromatosis patients and gave a donation of $1,000 to research for each run he scores in May. Entering Sunday’s game, Desmond had scored 16 times this month for a donation of $16,000.

“I’ve got three little boys myself. I can’t imagine a doctor telling me that one of my children, or all my children or any future children would …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com