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SALT LAKE CITY — Remember JP Gibson, the 5-year-old baller who signed a one-night contract with the Utah Jazz as he begun his battle with acute lymphoblastic leukemia?
Like the rest of the Jazz rookies, JP signed his contract (in purple crayon), took his turn at the rookie dance off, and received a roaring cheer when he combined with teammate Rudy Gobert for a thundering dunk in a team scrimmage.
After his cancer went into remission, JP stayed busy with trips to Washington D.C., advocating for childhood cancer victims, and even traveled to Las Vegas with the Utah Jazz summer league squad.
On Saturday, JP’s father Josh Gibson shared some bad news: JP’s cancer had returned.
It breaks my heart to type these words but JP's cancer has returned. We will fight this with all we have #jpgibson#cancersuckspic.twitter.com/TKEQi4VLBc
— Josh Gibson (@jjpgibson) July 30, 2017
The Jazz community rallied around a former teammate and inspirational figure on the Wasatch Front. Within moments, the official Jazz Twitter account tweeted a simple message for the survivor: “We love you, JP! You got this!”
That was followed by posts from former Jazzman Trevor Booker, assistant coach Johnnie Bryant, Jazz president Steve Starks, fans and media from across the nation.
Few responses were better than center and franchise player Gobert.
💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽 pic.twitter.com/3KTbyUsssY
— Rudy Gobert (@rudygobert27) July 30, 2017
JP has another long road ahead of him. But he’s got a lot of support behind him, as well.
JP wanted to wish everyone a good morning. He also wanted people to know that #cancersucks, @Nike is awesome and #hatsarecoolpic.twitter.com/wBzVj91fF0
— Josh Gibson (@jjpgibson) July 30, 2017
