CHARACTER COUNTS

Pacers C Myles Turner meets cancer patient who got bullied at school

Mar 9, 2020, 11:19 AM

Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner speaks with sixth-grader A’Myah Moon before a game against the...

Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner speaks with sixth-grader A’Myah Moon before a game against the Dallas Mavericks. (Screenshot: @Pacers on Twitter)

(Screenshot: @Pacers on Twitter)

Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner took time before and after a game in Dallas on Sunday to comfort a young fan and cancer patient who was bullied in school.

Turner invited six-grader A’Myah Moon and her family to meet with him before and after a game against the Mavericks to talk about pushing past the bullying incident, in which a student ripped off Moon’s wig.

Moon has been undergoing chemotherapy for a mass in her chest that cannot be removed because it is close to an artery, according to DallasNews.com’s Callie Caplan.

Turner, who went to Euless Trinity High School in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and later starred for the Texas Longhorns, scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Indiana in a win over the Mavs. He did so wearing blue Nikes after writing A’Myah’s name and “Be kind always!” on them.

Turner gave Moon the shoes after the game.

The center learned of Moon’s situation after his mom found a Facebook post about Moon’s bullying incident. A schoolmate asked Moon if she could put her wig in a ponytail, but when Moon said no, the girl pulled her wig off and threw it on the floor.

On Sunday, Turner and Moon discussed the movie “Space Jam” and took a selfie.

“The reason I do this isn’t for the cameras and that kind of stuff,” Turner said, according to the Dallas Morning News. “Kids see us, and we’re larger than life. They see us out on the floor, kind of like superheroes in a sense, doing what we do.

“When they see us [up close] in person, it’s like, you realize I’m just a human being like you are, too, so I think getting that one-on-one time to talk to her like that is important.”

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