Josh Allen is so much more than a football player to Western New York. He embodies the city. He is the grit, he is the character, he is the fight that the region embodies. As much as Allen embodies those traits, nothing embodies those traits more than Oishei Children’s Hospital, a place that Allen frequents.
When it was announced that Allen won the NFL MVP, the Buffalo Bills social media team released a video that they had created, interviewing some of the children that Allen has spent time visiting fighting illnesses. Get your tissues ready.
One of the children interviewed had made a bracelet for Allen, which he wore throughout the season. Another designed cleats for him that he was wearing during one of his superhuman plays, putting those cleats in a highlight that will be immortalized in Bills history. For the rest of Allen’s career, and likely after, that play against the 49ers where he was credited with a passing touchdown and a receiving touchdown on the same play will continue to be shown.
Allen’s impact goes far beyond the field. Buffalo, a small, tight-nit community of hard-working individuals, lives and breathes the Buffalo Bills. The city of Buffalo is football. And Josh Allen is Buffalo.
In November 2021, the Patricia Allen Pediatric Recovery Wing was founded and revealed to Josh following the more-than $1.1 million in donations from Bills fans around the world that were sent to the hospital after the passing of Josh’s grandmother, Patricia. A month later, the hospital worked with Josh to launch the “Patricia Allen Fund,” an ongoing support of the hospital’s foundation to benefit the critical care team and provide ongoing support for equipment, training, education, and programs. This team provides life-saving care to the region’s most acute patients including in the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit, emergency department, and Level I Pediatric Trauma Center.
Josh was shown the video that the kids at the hospital made for him, bringing him to tears following his MVP victory.
Josh knew the kids by name, commenting on who was speaking while watching the video. “Why’d you do this to me?” Josh said through tears and laughter after being when the video ended. “I mean… ah, man. It’s pretty cool. I don’t know what else to say. Thank you guys. I really appreciate it.”
“My job’s not that hard. I play football. What you guys have to go through and continue to fight through is much harder, and I look up to you as much as you look up to me, and I really appreciate that. I love you guys,” Josh said, sending a message back to the kids that he means so much to.
“Ah,” Josh said back to the Bills media team, handing them back the tablet. “I didn’t want to cry today.”
Allen is the MVP to all of Bills Mafia, from lifelong fans to the sick children that he inspires to keep fighting. Winning the award, to them, was just a formality.
