MILWAUKEE — Three young Aurora Health Care patients defied the odds and recovered from their deadly diseases. In honor of their achievement, the kids were surprised at American Family Field and rewarded with a VIP trip to Arizona for Brewers Spring Training next weekend.
All of the kids thought they were at the stadium for a tour, but when they sat down in the press room, they were greeted with a video from Christian Yelich and several other Brewers players who told them the good news.
11-year-old Evan Rennicke is one of those kids, having recovered from a cancerous tumor that gave him headaches. He told WTMJ he had no idea about the surprise. “I was kind of amazed… I was flabbergasted,” he said. “Is this real life right now?”
15-year-old Brandon Krueger loves the Brewers and plays second base. He said he’s excited to get back on the field after recovering from Crohn’s Disease. He also can’t wait to meet the players next weekend.
“I’m excited to meet them all and take it all in,” he said. “Christian Yelich is one of my favorites… and then Joey Weamer… I like his flow with the hair.”

Included in the VIP experience, the kids will meet Brewers players, participate in warmups, tour the locker room, and throw out the first pitch when they’re honored at the Brewers Spring Training game on Sunday, February 25th. Plus, all three received custom jerseys with their favorite number and their last name on the back of the jersey.
13-year-old Malakai Kaesermann, who’s recovered from multiple congenital heart disease surgeries, told WTMJ he’s “definitely” going to wear his jersey on the field when he goes back to playing baseball.
“This jersey is amazing and means everything to me. It’s awesome,” he said. “This will be one of my favorite shirts.” Kaesermann said baseball is one of the only sports he can play, so this means the world to him. “Baseball is my life,” he said.
For mom Chelsie Rennicke, baseball is an outlet for her son Evan to stay active and have fun.
“That was his mental break from all of [the cancer treatments]… being able to be with his friends,” she said. “We appreciate all of his teammates and his coaches… [they made him] feel he was a kid.”
She said he has shown so much grit and determination over the last year and a half, and she said she’s happy they can finally have some consistent family time since he’s done with his treatments. “Just knowing… we get to have this time together as a family knowing it’s not going to be taken away… is amazing,” she said. “It just feels that we can be a family again.”
Evan Kraesermann told WTMJ he’s just as excited as his son is. “Our calendar was written with all pencil [activities] we could do because it would get erased [because of] treatment and MRIs,” he said. “Now, because there’s none of that, we can finally write stuff in pen.”
Brandon Krueger’s caretaker, Dr. Donald Beno, told WTMJ all these kids earned this celebration.
“It’s why we go into medicine,” he said. “Our goal is to have them be happy and healthy young people and then young adults… [they] have earned it through all the trials and tribulations they’ve gone through to get there.”