Local boy's full circle moment at World Cup match in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A local boy will escort the players from Curacao out onto the pitch in South Philadelphia on Thursday afternoon.

It will be a full circle moment in his own family's story, and a tribute to his own fight to stay in the game and play it with joy.

Rocky Stroll is eight years old. He loves soccer -- playing either in his Wyndmoor yard or as a Quaker with the sports nonprofit Starfinder.

The nonprofit hit him with a big surprise in March: escorting the Curacao players onto the pitch in a match vs. Ivory Coast.

"Walking out onto the pitch tonight is going to be really fun," says Rocky, trying to imagine being in front of thousands of fans.

And he knows just what he is going to tell his player: "Probably that my grandmother is from Curacao."

"His mother's family, including grandmother Annie, left Curacao for London, but held on to their pride for the tiny, often unknown island.

"I just can't imagine how it's going to feel when I'm there with, you know, my mother's island on the pitch of the link, rolling out the flag," says Rocky's mother, Caroline Shaw.

Rocky is the youngest of four. He's the only one of his siblings born here in the United States. His parents, Jon and Caroline, named him after Philadelphia's favorite son.

Sadly, it was a fitting name.

"Rock was born with a hole in his heart," says Shaw.

Then, at 18 months, severe pneumonia left Rocky with a chronic lung disease.

"It's irreversible and incurable," says Shaw.

But this is a get hit and get back up kind of kid. Rocky started schooling me on the pitch, even though his day started with doctors.

"You would never know that he has dealt with some health issues, because when he's here, he runs right on to the pitch and starts playing," says Andrea Rodgers, the executive director of Starfinder.

Starfinder's aim is to make the love and lessons of soccer inclusive to all, including a kid with challenges who just wants to kick it today.

"It kind of helps me clear my mind and then just do something fun," says Rocly.

And for him to keep taking shots on goal.

"I think for him, it's learning to keep chasing and to keep participating in it all," says dad Jon Stroll.

"I think it will unlock something in him about what's possible," imagines Rodgers.