Scorecard Research Beacon
Search Icon
Family May 16, 2018

4-year-old cancer patient hits home run with heart

WATCH: 4-year-old cancer patient hits home run with heart

Footage of a 4-year-old's slow jog to home plate during a college baseball game may be the most adorable thing you'll see today.

The video shows Lio Ortega, 4, who is fighting brain cancer, making a dash with the help of his sister Ariadne around the bases while being deterred from running into the dugout.

PHOTO: Lio Ortega receives help as he ran around the bases during his "home run hit" in Colorado on May 12.
Brent Briggeman/US Air Force Academy
Lio Ortega receives help as he ran around the bases during his "home run hit" in Colorado on May 12.
PHOTO: Lio Ortega, a 4-year-old cancer patient, runs the bases during a recent college baseball game in El Paso County, Colo.
UNM Athletics/JB Gallegos
Lio Ortega, a 4-year-old cancer patient, runs the bases during a recent college baseball game in El Paso County, Colo.

Lio had been invited to throw out the ceremonial first pitch and hit the first ball prior to a May 12 baseball game in Colorado between the University of New Mexico (UNM) Lobos and the Air Force Academy.

Lio's father, Manuel Ortega, who played for the UNM Lobos during his years in junior college, said his son became a fan of the team and would wear Lobos gear that the head coach would send him while the boy underwent chemotherapy treatments.

PHOTO: Lio Ortega was given a turn at the plate during a recent college baseball game in El Paso County, Colo.
UNM Athletics/JB Gallegos
Lio Ortega was given a turn at the plate during a recent college baseball game in El Paso County, Colo.

"The hardest thing for us is...how do we maximize his time to give him great experiences?" Ortega of Colorado Springs told ABC News. "This was one of those [experiences] because he loves baseball. He plays on a little league team, he loves the big kids, he loves the college kids. He wants to be one of them.

"He says, 'I'm going to play with the Lobos.'"

PHOTO: Seen in this undated family photo, Manuel, Kirsten, Lio Ortega, 4 and Ariadne Ortega, 8.
Ortega Family
Seen in this undated family photo, Manuel, Kirsten, Lio Ortega, 4 and Ariadne Ortega, 8.

The Air Force and UNM arranged the occasion for Lio and his family. About 100 were in attendance.

"Everybody was crying, everybody was laughing," Ortega said. "It was just overwhelming. [Lio] had a great time and as you could see, it was a hoot. When he gets to do things like this, it makes him happy because he's with his family."