10/07/2025
Angel Reese Silently Skips Big Game to Attend Funeral of 9-Year-Old Fan Battling Cancer — Then Dedicates Her Next Performance to Her “Little Angel”
In a world where professional athletes are often defined by stat lines, contracts, and viral moments, Angel Reese reminded everyone what it truly means to be a role model. Just days before a high-stakes Chicago Sky matchup, Reese made a decision that no one saw coming—not her coaches, not the press, not even her teammates.
She didn’t show up for tip-off.
Instead, she showed up at a quiet church in a Chicago suburb, dressed in black, with no cameras, no entourage, and nothing in her hands but a single bouquet of white lilies.
She was at a funeral.
The service was for a 9-year-old girl named Maliyah, a devoted Sky fan who had spent the last two years fighting leukemia. Throughout her brutal rounds of chemotherapy, Maliyah never once missed watching a Sky game from her hospital bed. Her favorite player? Angel Reese. And every time she went in for another treatment, she wore a Sky jersey—always number 5.
“She said Angel made her feel brave,” Maliyah’s mother later told local reporters. “She believed if Angel could fight hard on the court, she could fight hard in that hospital chair.”
Angel had never met Maliyah in person. But she knew about her.
A nurse at Lurie Children’s Hospital had shared Maliyah’s story with the Sky earlier in the season, and Angel had sent a handwritten note,