Sometimes small gestures can truly go a long way.
It isn’t uncommon for professional athletes to make appearances at children’s hospitals, and 12 years ago in Los Angeles was one of those visits for then-Chivas USA player Sacha Kljestan. That day he met 7-year-old Chris Hegardt, who had been diagnosed with liver cancer, following an incident on the soccer field that ruptured a tumor and caused internal bleeding. The hour or so they spent together ended with Kljestan gifting Hegardt his United States national team jersey.
Pictures were taken, and life went on — Kljestan continued his career and Hegardt, who underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy, received a transplant and was declared cancer-free less than a year later.
The two would cross paths again over 2,000 miles from Los Angeles in the most unique way.
Kljestan, now a midfielder for the Los Angeles Galaxy, sat in a Charlotte hotel lobby on March 4 ahead of a highly anticipated matchup vs. expansion side Charlotte FC, which was expected to (and ultimately did) set a Major League Soccer attendance record.
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Sitting near Kljestan was Hegardt’s mother, who happened to be staying in that same hotel, and was in town to watch her son’s game. She just had to say something to him.
“You visit kids in the hospital sometimes and then you never hear from them again, or sometimes you hear the worst,” Kljestan said. “So, for him, it had been so long that when I saw his mom in the lobby and she approached me, it was just so crazy. Then she told me he was playing for Charlotte, and I was like, ‘Oh in the academy?’
“And she was like, ‘No, the first team.’”
She shared the pictures from the hospital room with a shocked Kljestan, and he took to Twitter.
My wife and I visited this young man back in 2010 at Children’s Hospital LA. Today I ran into his parents in our hotel lobby in Charlotte. His name is Chris Hegardt and he’s a rookie midfielder for @CharlotteFC. I gave him a jersey once, hopefully he will give me his tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/NhXiVIAGzp
— Sacha Kljestan (@SachaKljestan) March 4, 2022
Hegardt, focused on game prep, picked up his parents from the hotel after training and his mom filled him in on what had happened. By then, the tweet was already going viral but he hadn’t seen it because he’s not on Twitter.
“When he posted it, people started texting me and my phone was going crazy,” Hegardt told Yahoo Sports. “Didn’t think it was going to blow up, but people were posting that everywhere. Americans love a feel-good story, and with everything going on in the world, some positivity is always nice.”
Kljestan entered the March 5 game, which the Galaxy won 1-0, in the 53rd minute. Hegardt entered in the 87th. When the final whistle blew, they shared a few minutes near midfield talking and eventually exchanging jerseys.
“I was happy that we both ended up on the field in the second half. I think that was a special ribbon to put on the end,” Kljestan said. “He’s on his second game as a professional and I’m probably at my 650th, so we are at different stages in our careers. I congratulated him after the game and I told him he could reach out to me whenever he wants, if he wants advice or anything like that.”
Hegardt recalled the moment from his perspective.
“He offered me a lot of great advice and motivation after the game,” he said. “I was 7 when he met me and he was already playing pro, and he’s still playing pro. Not a lot of people can do that. It just speaks volumes to him as a player and person.”
Their reunion serves as a reminder of how powerful sports can be. During his toughest times battling cancer, Hegardt admits it was soccer that helped him keep a positive mindset and stay motivated.
“In life there’s a lot of obstacles you go through, but it’s about how you rebound and keep going. Because I’ve had a lot of obstacles in life, I feel like everything I face I can overcome,” he said.
“I think for me, the whole moral of the story is just, be a good person,” Kljestan added. “It cost me nothing to be kind to him and his family that day, and if it just gave him 1 percent of hope or just made him smile a little bit that day, then it was all worth it.”
Hegardt played in the Seattle Sounders academy, then with their United Soccer League affiliate, and ultimately ended up at Georgetown University.
A few days after what would be the sophomore’s final collegiate game on Dec. 10, 2021, a Final Four loss to Washington, he received a call from Charlotte FC head coach Miguel Angel Ramirez.
On his 20th birthday on January 6, he was given a great birthday present as his signing with the club became official. The next month, he made his MLS debut against D.C. United, just a little over five miles from where he played college ball, in front of over 30 of his closest friends and family.
Hegardt is keenly aware, perhaps more than most, of how he can make an impact off the field, too.
“Whenever the club has appearances or they need someone to visit a school or go to a hospital, I’m always the first one to say ‘I’ll do it’ because I just know little things like that can affect people in such a positive way that a lot of people don’t understand,” Hegardt told Yahoo Sports.
So what is Hegardt going to do with Kljestan’s Galaxy jersey?
He looked around at the empty walls in his Charlotte apartment and laughed.
“As you can see,” he said, “I don’t have a lot of decorations, so I’ll probably hang it up here.”
Two different Kljestan jerseys, over 2,000 miles apart. One in California, and the other in North Carolina.
Both reminders of how far life has taken him.
