If you remember reading our story on 12-year-old Markie DeVoe and his choroideremia, we have an important update for you. If you haven’t read the story yet, you can find it here.
Here’s a brief: Markie DeVoe is a 12-year-old boy who was diagnosed with choroideremia when he was six years old. He is passionate about baseball and plays in little league. Also, he frequently attends Lehigh Valley IronPigs and Scranton Wilkes-Barre RailRiders games.
His frequent visits to these games brought attention to his condition. Now, some of his favorite team’s members know of him and are some of his close friends. One of these players includes Yankees minor league outfielder Mason Williams.
Williams has played 25 games for the Yankees and is the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre outfielder, but that’s hardly the important part of his legacy. Mason Williams has also recently partnered with Athletes Brand in co-designing a T-shirt that strives to bring greater awareness to Devoe’s rare retinal disease.
The shirt is designed in Yankees colors and will have a “Be You” slogan on the front. The back will also use the same slogan but as a hashtag, #BeYou. Hopefully, this will help generate some social media traffic and awareness as well.
Mason Williams plans on partnering in this venture with Angels for Mark, which is a support page made by the Devoe parents for Mark and his condition.
Choroideremia is a rare inherited disorder that eventually causes blindness—usually by late adulthood.
It is a progressive vision loss disorder that affects males more than females. For Mark, the baseball fanatic, and many other active people just like him, it is unthinkably difficult to come to terms with the thought that one day you may not be able to enjoy the things you do now because of blindness.
Just like for us, Mark’s choroideremia story has tugged at the heartstrings of many in the baseball community. Mason Williams’ “Be You” T-shirts are available now on the Athletes Brand website. Order yours here.