Bethel University’s men’s team will play Indian University in South Bend this Saturday in a Bethel charity basketball game benefiting 13-year-old Ella Hunt. Diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) as a baby, Ella has defied the bleak prognosis given by doctors who doubted she would not survive beyond six weeks.
“We had no idea that we would be leaving the hospital coming home to hospice,” stated her mother, Erica Hunt. She further said that the diagnosis was devastating and difficult to comprehend. Yet even as a baby, Ella’s bright eyes and resilient spirit gave her parents hope that she would beat the odds.
Though Ella has surpassed every expectation, her journey has been challenging. She has had to face significant challenges. According to Erica, “she’s lost all of her muscles.” Erica also stated, “She can’t swallow, she can’t inflate her own lungs fully because it takes muscles to do that, and she no longer has feeling from her chest down.” Despite these restrictions, Ella remains joyful, embodying resilience and hope. “She’s a very typical 13-year-old, I mean, 100% a 13-year-old kid,” said erica
The idea of a charity game emerged from Bethel’s kinesiology program. Assistant Professor Kiel Boynton tasked his students with organizing an event to support a charitable cause. “One of the students in my current class said, ‘What if we do something for Noah Hunt’s sister?'” Boynton explained. Funds raised will go towards purchasing a wheelchair lift for the family’s van, which is a critical need for Ella’s care and travel to specialized centers in Cincinnati or Madison, Wisconsin.
The Bethel charity basketball game will start at 3 p.m., with the doors opening at 1:30 p.m. Ticket sales and additional donations will support the cause. People can buy tickets for $3 in advance and $5 on the day of the game, which many people are choosing to do to help with donations. “There’s gonna be raffles, there’s gonna be games, there’s gonna be prizes, there’s gonna be entertainment throughout the game,” Boynton said. For the Hunt family, Ella’s story continues to touch and inspire many lives, including relatives and friends who have chosen careers in healthcare because of her.
