Crosby has special visit with cancer patient

Grant Chupinka, a 24-year-old cancer patient, stood in the doorway of the Penguins locker room after morning skate on Monday and watched as media members flooded Sidney Crosby's stall.
The sight amazed Chupinka, who originally thought he and his family were just stopping at PPG Paints Arena that morning to pick up an autographed Crosby jersey. And while he did receive the sweater, the Pens had a lot more planned for Chupinka's special visit.

He and his family were given a tour of the arena, welcomed to watch the team's game-day skate, and was later taken to the Pens' locker room to meet Crosby.
"I actually just got out of the hospital this morning," Chupinka said. "I came down here and I was expecting to pick up a jersey. I got a lot more than I bargained for. It was really cool to see."
As Chupinka waited for Crosby, he found himself in a conversation with rookie goaltender Matt Murray. The main topic of discussion being how tall Murray is in person, which came to a surprise to Chupinka.
"Everybody always thinks I'm so small on TV. I don't know why," said Murray, who's 6-foot-4, as he and Chupinka shared a laugh.
It was during their conversation that Crosby made his way over to shake Chupinka's hand and meet the rest of the family. Everyone involved had smiles stretched across their faces as Crosby signed Chupinka's jerseys and discussed fantasy hockey. It turns out Chupinka's brother was able to snatch Crosby in the draft, the captain calling for a blockbuster trade.
"I couldn't really explain it," Chupinka said trying to describe what it was like to meet his favorite player. "It was really cool to see how down to earth 'Sid' really is. You see him on TV and you just wonder if he's an incredible person, and he is."
Crosby was humbled by meeting Chupinka.
"It's nice we had the opportunity to do that," Crosby said. "I think we're fortunate enough to do things like this at different points throughout the year and I think it helps change your mind a bit and keeps things in perspective. The biggest thing is for the people you meet to enjoy themselves and have a great experience. Hopefully that was the case with Grant."
It's safe to say Chupinka was overjoyed by the experience. Crosby surprised the Pittsburgh native with an autographed puck and a stick with a personalized message to one of his biggest fans, wishing him the best.
Meanwhile, Grant's parents, Steve and Kim Chupinka, were practically speechless as they watched the events unfold, especially considering the journey they have made to this point.
"He was actually diagnosed with neuroblastoma stage 4 when he was six months and two days old," Steve said. "He had surgeries then and then a bone marrow transplant at 19 months. He remained cancer-free, but this February he was diagnosed with bone cancer.
"This is the second cancer of which he had. He had some chemo that wasn't working, then he had four operations in July. It ended up that he grew another tumor after that. On Saturday, though, we realized they're starting to shrink, we made progress this time. This has just been a great weekend all around."
The experience Monday morning was a great distraction from the events over the past year, capping off a weekend of good news for the Chupinka family.
"It was really awesome," Kim said. "He wasn't expecting this. It's just a joy to see him so excited."