Yorkville High School senior Paris Strickland sat inside Halas Hall's practice viewing suite last week beside former Bears defensive tackle Anthony "Spice" Adams, who was brought in to interview her for the Chicago Bears Collin Wehr Scholarship — an annual program that provides financial assistance to young cancer survivors or the siblings of children who lost their battle with pediatric cancer.
Strickland and her parents, Lauren and Ralph, who sat to the left of their eldest daughter, explained to Adams how she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of cancer that develops from immature nerve cells, at just nine days old. After Adams posed a few questions to learn more about Strickland's journey to remission as well as her plan to attend College of DuPage's sonography program, he asked a question that stunned the family.
"My last question is, what if I told y'all that this interview process was really just a celebration?" Adams asked. "Because you are the 2026 winner of the Chicago Bears Colin Wehr Scholarship."
The scholarship — now in its 12th year — honors Wehr, who passed away in March 2013. Wehr became a member of the Bears family in 2011 when he fulfilled his wish of being an NFL Network reporter and reporting live from Halas Hall alongside former receiver Tom Waddle.
As Adams stood up to grab the $25,000 scholarship check and present it to Strickland, the family embraced each other, shedding tears of joy and shock.
"Honestly, it just feels so unreal," Strickland said. "I really can't believe it — that I just won this amazing scholarship. It just feels so surreal."
As much as Strickland felt shocked about receiving the incredible award, she felt just as humbled and grateful to see her hard work in school and around her community pay off. Last year while maintain a strong academic record, she earned her Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) license, which allowed her to work directly in a dementia care facility and gain hands-on experience in healthcare.
"Reading Paris' story, you can see right away that she understands what it means to fight and to keep going," Matt Simeone, director of player and alumni relations said. "What makes her special is that she doesn't stop there, she wants to be on the other side of it now, helping families who are walking through what hers did. That's exactly why the Collin Wehr family and the Bears created this scholarship, to support young people who turn adversity into purpose."
The senior also volunteers with Rescue Rascals to assist with pet care and adoption events, Kendall County Food Pantry to help organize and distribute donations and Feed My Starving Children to aid in packing and preparing meals for families in need.
Each summer, Strickland also attends Camp One Step by Children's Oncology Services — where she once was a camper during her own cancer journey and is now a member of the Camper Council helping plan activities, mentor young campers and create meaningful experiences for children facing diagnoses similar to hers.
"We have a great group of kids at camp and everyone is just a great person who deserves to get experiences that matter," Strickland said. "Even if you had cancer or not, that's not an excuse to just get these amazing opportunities. You work hard for it, you put in the work. I've worked really hard in school. I like to make my connections with people and uphold like a good standard and be presentable and present, have good etiquette and stuff like that. I think that's equally as important to getting these opportunities.
"So it's really not cancer getting the opportunities. It's me, because I'm really working hard to get there myself."
Following the initial surprise, Strickland and her parents — both Chicago natives — met with Bears vice president Patrick McCaskey before receiving a tour of Halas Hall alongside Adams and special advisor to President/CEO Kevin Warren & chief administrative officer Ted Crews.
For Ralph, a diehard Bears fan since birth who was born and raised on the city's West Side, the experience of seeing Paris be rewarded for her perseverance by the family's hometown NFL team felt like "a dream come true."
"First of all, I'm very proud of her for the hard work and dedication that she has in school and everything," Ralph said. "I mean, this opportunity was amazing — to be here and to win the scholarship so she can fulfill her academic dreams. And second of all, it's a dream to be here. Paris and her sister, London, have their little baby pictures with Bears jerseys on and all of that, so this is amazing.
"It's a day to remember."
Now a part of the Bears family forever, Strickland will head off to college this fall to pursue a career in diagnostic medical imaging. Her goal is to help detect cancer and other serious conditions early, when treatment can be most effective. Having navigated childhood cancer and being positively impacted by so many medical professionals, Strickland always felt drawn to a career path that allowed her to reciprocate the level of support and care she received.
"I've always known that I wanted to do something in the medical field," Strickland said. "I like sonography because it is a part of the early detection, so I can help out from the start and be the person to jumpstart that person's journey to healing and getting better.
"I want to be the first person that you go to for help, a sense of security in a way, like, 'Oh, I would have never gotten this help or gotten the treatment that I needed without this person.'"
