The Buffalo Bills are making a kind gesture to the young fan who was pushed down the stairs during last Sunday night's game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Per Jenna Lemoncelli of the New York Post, Mikey DeCamilla said in an interview with an ABC affiliate in Buffalo that his eight-year-old daughter, Mia, and their family will be invited to a future Bills game following the incident. Mia is a two-time survivor of liver cancer who reached remission for the second time in May 2023, and she handled the situation in stride, even giving Buffalo advice on how to avoid similar circumstances.
"I am feeling great," Mia said. "I hope that the Bills realize that there's an issue and you need to have security and make it more a family atmosphere and family event rather than a party house."
However, when asked if she would want to return to Highmark Stadium to get a full gameday experience in the future, she shook her head no.
Mia's father explained what led to Sunday night's incident, describing a male Bills fan as being "belligerently drunk" when he barreled past him and his son before shoving Mia to the side and causing her to slip down the stairs and fall into the lap of a 49ers fan.
"From the beginning, these folks behind us—I don't know if it was the same guy or not, I didn't pay attention—but they were, on purpose, throwing snowballs at Niner fans. They even said it out loud, 'We're going to be hitting Niner fans in the head all game,'" the elder DeCamilla recalled.
"He goes 'Well, I'm going to barrel through these Niner fans anyways.' So, he's coming up and he just starts to barrel through and push people out of the way. He kind of tried to bump into me and got past me, when he got past me, it was Mia and he pushed her in the side, which she slipped down the stairs because of the snow…and ended up hitting her rib cage on the seat."
The DeCamilla family chose to leave the stadium following the incident. Police were alerted about the matter, but the family chose not to file a report. The story has since gained traction online, with many showing support for Mia and donating to her GoFundMe page to help pay for her treatments.
The Bills will be playing back-to-back road games in the next two weeks against the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions before returning home to face the New England Patriots on Dec. 22 and the New York Jets on Dec. 29.
Read 8 Comments
Download the app for comments Get the B/R app to join the conversation