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Woodbury boy needs special care and Gophers football team provides weekly highlights

andy greder, pioneer press
·7 min read

When Jessie and Dan Starken tell Mitchell about an upcoming visit with the Gophers football team, the couple’s 5-year-old son doesn’t have much to say.

That doesn’t mean he isn’t thrilled.

“His body starts wiggling,” Jessie said of Mitchell’s response. “He gets excited. He smiles. He understands, and he enjoys it.”

Mitchell Starken has been welcomed into the Gophers locker room this season. Like other players, he has a locker inside the Larson Football Performance Center. His jersey is No. 11, which matches his birthday.

Mitchell isn’t going to be giving a pregame pep talk before the Wisconsin rivalry game Saturday, but all season he has boosted the Gophers’ understanding of what families in need go through on a daily basis. Amid the Thanksgiving season, players and family members shared gratitude for the connection they’ve made.

Mitchell has a rare, genetic, multi-system health disorder known as Gould Syndrome. He is nonverbal and non-ambulatory, but his mother says he can “work a room” with his “charismatic smile.”

The Starkens live in Woodbury and had attended a few Gophers community events before they were referred to Team IMPACT, a Massachusetts-based organization that matches children dealing with disabilities and serious illnesses to college teams to create enriching experience for both parties. Since 2011, Team IMPACT has matched more than 3,000 kids with 750-plus programs.

The Starkens and doctors discovered Mitchell has Gould Syndrome when he was two years old. Only a few hundred people in the world have been diagnosed with it. For Mitchell, the condition has led to cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other complications.

Mitchell’s health needs create daily challenges for the Starkens. He needs full transports to go places, assistance with meals, and his medications have had nasty side affects.

“It’s really hard,” Jessie acknowledged. “We always have chronic stress of so many decisions that have to be made. So many worries, so many layers of complexity. But Team IMPACT and this experience (with the Gophers) has really been a highlight. It kind of helps ease that burden. … You don’t know it until you have to live it. It’s a really hard life, but this gives us some joy.”

The Starkens are thankful for how they have been welcomed and treated by the Gophers football team.

“When we go out in public, a lot of people just stare at us. They don’t understand,” Jessi revealed. “The (Gophers) treat him like a human. There’s a lot of (other) people that just look past him.”

As a high school teacher, Jessi knows how some young adults can behave, so she made it a point to emphasize how the Gophers are different.

“We’ve always been very, very impressed with any interaction with the Gopher team and their maturity level,” Jessi said. “It’s outstanding. … It’s far beyond what I thought hanging out with college guys would have been like.”

Gophers redshirt freshman tight end Jack DiSano was the first player to meet the Starkens at the 2022 “Row The Boat” BBQ, an annual preseason event at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital.

Gophers players receive tickets to games, but DiSano said he doesn’t always use his, so he offered them to the Starkens. They took him up on the offer and came out to Huntington Bank Stadium last season. Then the Starkens stopped by the Gophers’ annual Turkey Drive last year and have attended HopeKids events at the U. HopeKids, in turn, recommended the Starkens look into Team IMPACT.

Norries Wilson, the Gophers director of player development, facilitates the Starken visits with Team IMPACT to the U and other locations for fun activities. A leadership group of players has met with the Starkens, and those players will bring the Starkens to meet their respective position groups. The Starkens’ term with Team IMPACT and the Gophers will continue into next season.

Given Mitchell’s health, it’s difficult for the Starkens to find family activities for him and his older brother, 8-year-old Garrett. Attending Gophers football practices, games and special events gives them all something to circle on the calendar.

The Starkens love sports. Jessie played soccer at Hamline, and Dan was on the baseball team at Iowa. They have made more than 10 visits to see the Gophers football team since June. The Starkens now have season tickets to football games and will go down on the sideline pregame to meet with head coach P.J. Fleck, players and staff.

“The guys have been a highlight of our past six months because it’s been really a challenge with Mitchell and his health,” Jessie said.

Fleck’s “Row The Boat” mantra was inspired by the passing of his son, Colton, who died from a heart condition soon after birth in 2010. Since then, Fleck has instilled a “serving and giving” tenant within his programs at Western Michigan and Minnesota.

Before partnering with Team IMPACT, the Gophers have welcomed other kids in need into the program such as Braxton Battaglia, Megan Wagner and Jace Trettin. Mitchell Starken is the latest member of that club.

“We get judged on Saturday in wins and losses, but the impact that players have on other people’s lives and how other people’s lives impact our players — that’s life,” Fleck said. “That is what sports can do to make life better and what you can do to make other people’s lives better. Sports is the ultimate connector and these guys are using their platform to really understand the true meaning of life. Mitchell is teaching us all that. Nobody is happier when they are on the football field than Mitchell.”

With Team IMPACT, goals have been set for Mitchell and the Gophers players. For instance, Mitchell will set out to use his eye-gaze communication device around the team, while U football players will learn what life is like for a medically complex kid and his family.

Mitchell has been hospitalized more than a dozen times in the last few years. He has been on six different seizure medications, and a change to a keto diet has helped control the seizures, but has led to daily vomiting.

Mitchell had a health issue last week that kept him from meeting Gophers players at the Museum of Illusions at the Mall of America.

But goals have been met. DiSano said he and Mitchell were hanging out in the players’ lounge one day when Mitchell was able to share how he liked to play with trucks. That’s part of Mitchell’s larger fascination with construction equipment, so players have sent the Starkens photos of tractors and cranes to engage with Mitchell.

Gophers true freshman offensive lineman Phillip Daniels set up an obstacle course and scavenger hunt for Mitchell and Garrett. Daniels said he and his mother would go to downtown Cincinnati to help feed the homeless on Sundays, and Fleck’s culture was a big reason he came up from Ohio.

“I don’t just want to help Mitchell, even though Mitchell’s my dog; I want to help others,” the promising 6-foot-6, 300-pounder said. “… I want to be able to help and give back to them.”

Daniels said connecting with Mitchell helps put the injury he is dealing with in perspective. DiSano said he has learned about sympathy and empathy, and one his greatest takeaways is how big brother Garrett cares for Mitchell and how Garrett is also able to enjoy the visits.

“It’s definitely made me realize how easy it is to give back,’ DiSano said. “I don’t want to just stop doing this kind of stuff when football is done. It’s a great opportunity.”

A pair of upperclassmen, kicker Dragan Kesich and punter Mark Crawford, have learned about Starkens’ challenges and sacrifices, from customizing the family minivan to fit Mitchell’s wheelchair and securely transport him places and learning about how Mitchell needs a gastrostomy tube for meals.

The simple act of eating a meal can be easily overlooked, Kesich said, especially when that meal is provided on campus or even in a special spread on Thanksgiving.

“We are just sitting in there (at the Athletes Village) eating food,” Kesich said. “And you don’t realize how some people might struggle with that.”

Kesich and Crawford have enjoyed how observant Mitchell is with them and how special it is once they are able to connect with him, sometimes with the help of his parents.

“You know you’re getting through to him if he gives you a screech or like a clap sound,” Kesich said.

“When you see him smile,” Crawford added, “Oh, that’s amazing.”

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