SHERMAN, N.Y. (WKBW) — Elliye Ball stands in her kitchen Sunday ahead of the Bills vs. Steelers game, posing with a sign that reads, “Will trade my dad for a Josh Allen autograph.”
She’s on her way from Chautauqua County to her first Bills game in Orchard Park.
“That’s just something you’ll never forget,” she said.
Pictures with her dad in the stands capture the amazing time the father-daughter fan duo had at the stadium. The 12 year-old—all smiles.
“Everyone always says it’s so crazy, you can’t put it into words. It’s such a crazy atmosphere,” she said of Highmark Stadium.
For Elliye and her dad Joshua Taylor, Sunday’s matchup against the Steelers was a moment to have some fun, for Elliye to be a kid, after ten of the hardest months this family has faced.
It was January 12 when the Taylor family home in Sherman went up in flames. Three children- trapped upstairs. Elliye, her 8 year-old brother Miles and her 12 month-old brother Watson.
Her family says both Elliye and her brother Miles walked through thick smoke to try to get to their brother Watson.
“That’s how she sustained most of her burns, trying to save her brother,” Taylor said.
Her dad says both Elliye and Miles jumped from the second story of the house. Badly burned, they were rushed to a hospital in Pittsburgh.
“We lost our one year-old son Watson,” Taylor said. Elliye spent around 100 days in Pittsburgh and Miles spent 155 days. The hospital told us, ‘you already lost one child, you need to prepare for losing one more or possibly two.”
But pure fight and determination to live kept both children alive. Elliye, who was given just an 89% mortality rate, and Miles who doctors didn’t think could make it through twelve hours, both fighting on.
“Both of them fought like crazy. The fight to survive, and the fight to keep living,” Taylor said.
The family says they lean on each other for love and support.
“There’s so much good in this world, still,” said Taylor.
For Elliye and the Taylor family, football is about so much more than what happens on the field.
We asked Elliye what she’d remember most about this game.
“It was my first game, and just the fact that it’s like one of the fun things I’ve done since being in the hospital,” she said.
