In the spirit of the game, New York Islanders players gave eight-year-old Brandon Bloom the experience of a lifetime.

Sometimes, it’s the little things that go the longest of ways.

On Wednesday, 8-year-old Brandon Bloom was an honorable member of the Islanders for the day. For 24 hours, he was just one of the boys.

This is a difficult time for Brandon, who is battling Stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Every day is a struggle. Every day is put into perspective.

Images of Brandon — whether they be in the locker room or on the ice with his new  ‘teammates’ — lit up the Islanders practice facility. The players felt it. So did the journalists in attendance. Through the screen, I felt it, too. So did so, so many others.

“I almost started crying when I saw that he had his own little spot in the locker room with the boys, that really touched me,” Brandon’s father Brian said, per Cory Wright from the team’s website. “For Brandon to have a jersey and everything is amazing. He’s going to talk about it forever.”

It’s not something that the coaches and players are going to forget anytime soon, either.

Anthony Beauvillier was among the Islanders who visited Brandon in the hospital last season. “It’s the same smile,” Beauvillier said. “Just sitting on the bench you could just tell he was happy to be here. It’s something that’s going to stay in my mind for a while.”

So keep on inspiring us, Brandon, and keep on fighting. We’re all with you.

To help Brandon, visit lls.org/#

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