Dying Man to See First, Last Lions Game on Thanksgiving

Chris Liwak will get the VIP treatment at Ford Field Thanksgiving Day when the Detroit Lions take on the Philadelphia Eagles. (Photo via Wikimedia / Creative Commons)

• Get Patch’s daily newsletter and real-time news alerts.

A lifelong Dearborn resident will see his first and what may be his last Detroit Lions game on Thanksgiving Day.

Chris Liwak, 56, is dying of lung cancer.

A Lions fan since he was a kid and through good times and bad, Liwak has dutifully been filling out forms over the past few months to win Lions tickets in a Detroit Free Press contest.

After learning last summer that he had lung cancer and precious little time left, the routine and the hope behind it gave him the will to hang on, his sister, Debbie Williams, said

He didn’t win the tickets, but the Free Press learned about his story and rewarded him with four tickets to the Thanksgiving matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles (12:30 p.m., Fox), a sweatshirt, a football autographed by Matthew Stafford and other VIP treatment.

“When we told him,” Williams said, “he got this huge grin on his face. We call it ‘The Chris Smile.’ ”

After the game, Chris, Williams and a third sibling, Clifford, will join their mother for Thanksgiving dinner at Williams’ house.

They know it’s the last time they’ll be together.

One thought sustains Williams.

“... it’ll be easier, you know?” she said. “Because we’ll be able to think about how special this one was.”

» Read the full column by Mitch Albom on the Detroit Free Press.