Real Salt Lake's Andy Williams Family Struggles

The NY Times has this story about Andy Williams' wife and her search for a bone marrow donor to fight her rare form of luekemia.

NY Red Bulls will face Real Salt Lake in the Western conference finals (I never thought I would say something like that) on Saturday. Williams will likely see time as a sub late in the game.

This bit hits hard:

The time Williams spends on the field is an escape, a chance to exhaust his body and refresh his mind, to pour himself into something without so much gravity. When he prepares to return to real life, he empties his reservoir.

“I cry after every game, every time,” said Williams, who sometimes puts a towel over his head to hide his tears. “Every time I play, I’m not playing for myself. I’m playing for Marcia and the kids. When the game is over, it doesn’t matter if I’ve played 30 minutes or 90, I have to let my emotions go.”

As he spoke last week, he sat in a room overlooking the field at Rio Tinto Stadium with the snow-capped Wasatch Mountains in the distance. It is there that Real Salt Lake will play the Red Bulls on Saturday in the next round of the M.L.S playoffs, after eliminating Chivas U.S.A. in the first round. Marcia was at his side, often placing a hand on his knee.

I too have sought solace on the soccer field in the past.

Still you have to admire a man who can put aside his personal struggles and not let it affect his job too much. But, by the same token, he has been able to use his job to help his wife. Not too shabby for a footballer.