RICHMOND, Va. -- One of the greatest joys in Frankie Ferreira's young life is suiting up. The nine-year-old football player digs in for practice five days a week.
“He gives 110% at all times,” Frankie's mom Colleen said. “This is Frankie’s passion. This is his joy.”
Parents Paul and Colleen are never far from the sidelines when Frankie takes the field for the Bulldogs of the Chesterfield Quarterback League.
“He is all business when he gets on the football field. It is awesome to see that,” Paul said.
But Frankie’s biggest foe doesn’t wear a uniform.
“It is like a ticking time bomb. You just don’t know,” Paul said. “We could wake up tomorrow and it is a bad day. That bad day doesn’t go away.”
Two and a half years ago Frankie noticed shoulder soreness and weakness in his arms. Doctors finally delivered a diagnosis — FSHD Muscular Dystrophy, a rare disease that attacks the body’s muscles.
“You know the first phone call is shocking. I spent the day hiding in the playroom away from the kids because I couldn’t talk without crying,” Colleen said.
There is no known cure.
“The core of is essentially is your muscle tissue breaks down and then it doesn’t come back,” Paul said.
Colleen and Paul admire their little boy’s determination in the face of his lifelong struggle.
“I’m a mom waiting for the other shoe to drop at all times. That is how I describe it to people,” Colleen said.
Frankie is keeping his disease at bay with physical activity.
“It is a terrible thing to know but the fact that we know this young in his life helps us adjust for that in the future," Paul said. "Helps him adjust to be a better individual in the future."
Football is proving the best medicine.
“As soon as the football season was over and the year before he started having side effects because he wasn’t moving as much,” Colleen said.
Another way the fourth grader at Mosley Elementary is fighting Muscular Dystrophy? Money.
“He is the kindest kid,” Colleen said. “That is the word everyone uses to describe him.”
In two years, Team Fearless Frankie has raised nearly $60,000 for researchers at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU. A place with which the patient is all too familiar.
“It really showed me how much good you put out in the world to people [is] how much comes back,” Paul said. “To help us fight this until we can find a cure because we’re going to find a cure for this.”
Frankie is a fundraising machine. Before his diagnosis, Frankie raised $6,000 for Southside SPCA selling lemonade.
“I really like animals,” Frankie said. “So I wanted to help animals who didn’t have homes.”
“He has always had the biggest heart. He has a servant's heart. He always wants to help. He is the first to volunteer for anything,” Colleen said.
Raising the most money for the hospital that helps him in a time of need motivates Frankie every day.
“So they can find a cure for my disease,” Frankie said. “So other kids can feel better. I want them to feel like regular kids.”
In December, Frankie was honored with the Strong as Steele Award for his dedication.
“We want to make sure that every minute that he has to play, he can play. Any time he wants to be on the field he’s on the field,” Colleen said.
The tireless athlete promises to play his favorite sport while he can and to lead by example.
“If it was on a scale of one to ten it would be an 11,” Frankie said.
“I am the luckiest guy in the world to have him as my kid. He is an amazing individual,” Paul said.
Frankie Ferreira is an athlete determined to tackle his opponents on and off the gridiron.
“There is a reason that he has this disease,” Colleen said. “There is a reason he was given this because he is the one who was going to fight. And we’re going to be there with him fighting.”
September is Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Month. Frankie is motivated more than ever to help find a cure. Click here if you would like to donate to his cause.
Watch Greg McQuade's stories on CBS 6 and WTVR.com. If you know someone Greg should profile, email him at greg.mcquade@wtvr.com.
