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Ryan Reynolds Is Really Good Person

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | April 29, 2016 |

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | April 29, 2016 |

I don’t know if Hollywood has a version of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which honors an NFL player’s volunteer and charity work, but Ryan Reynolds should win whatever the celebrity equivalent of that is. Reynolds doesn’t always choose the best movie projects, but he’s a good guy. I mean, the man loved his father, a former cop who died last year after a 20-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.

He’s got three amazing brothers who stick up for him.

He’s a good Dad with a sense of humor:

His politics are agreeable.

Betty White loves him. Is there anyone better to vouch for a man’s character?

Reynolds is also a super caring guy who not only allowed a 13-year-old kid with terminal cancer see Deadpool first, he became friends with him. He exchanged texts with him. He genuinely became friends with the kid, and when the kid unfortunately passed away, Reynolds wrote an incredibly sweet, incredibly endearing tribute, and while it won’t bring back Connor McGrath, it does bring a sweet, foul-mouthed kid into the hearts of millions.

Reynolds wrote this on Facebook yesterday:

For three straight years, my friend, Connor McGrath drop-kicked cancer… Not sure how… Maybe the cancer cheated… But the fight came to an end two nights ago.

In my wildest dreams, I can’t imagine how hard this is for his parents Kim and Gerald - along with his extended family in Newfoundland.

Connor was 13. But this kid… He was smart. He was funny. And not just funny ‘for a kid’ - or funny ‘for a person battling something awful’. He was unqualified funny. He had that… thing.

That thing you see in great performers or comedy writers. A running commentary/observational skill people are just lucky to be born with.

He went way too early and it’s impossible to reconcile. Connor was a great friend, a great son, and a light to the people lucky enough to know him. While repeatedly punching cancer in the balls, he made everyone laugh. Including the entire staff who cared for him at Edmonton’s Stollery Children’s Hospital.

It was the Make-A-Wish Foundation that brought us together. I can’t thank them enough. Seriously. Thank you. Because of his wish, Connor was the first person to see Deadpool. I traveled up to Edmonton, Alberta to surprise him with a rough cut of the film. There were still huge sections with wires we hadn’t yet painted out, jokes which weren’t working (and still aren’t) and green screens. Connor didn’t seem to mind. And I’d never felt luckier to get to be Wade Wilson.

***Before you jump down my throat for showing a 13 year old an R-Rated film, please know this kid knew more swear words than a British chef.

I went back to Edmonton 6 weeks later and I wish I could say things were looking up. After my visit, I didn’t know if I was saying goodbye or see ya later. Sitting here now, I realize it was both.

I’m grateful I got to orbit Connor’s world for a brief time. Grateful for the pages and pages of hilarious texts between us. Grateful to his parents for allowing Connor to spend time with a foul-mouthed child in the body of a 39 year old.

I called Connor, “Bubba”. And he called me “Bubba2”. We met because he loved Deadpool. In a certain sense he WAS Deadpool. Or, at least everything Deadpool aspires to be; balancing pain, fearlessness, love and a filthy (filthy!) sense of humor in one body. I wish he could’ve stuck around a lot longer.

If you’d like to donate to The Make-A-Wish Foundation, I can pretty much guarantee, your money’s going to a damn good place. These people do not suck. They are heroic. Full stop. http://makeawishna.ca/wishes/donate

My deepest condolences and thanks to Kim, Gerald and the entire clan McGrath — who loved this little boy so very well. And thankfully, Connor knew it.

See ya down the road, Bubba.

- r

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What a terrific person.

Ryan Reynolds ain’t bad, either.

RIP Connor McGrath.