High school band plays special performance for mom in Hospice care

Their band director told them it would be a performance they’d never forget.

So about 80 members of the Topeka High School Trojan Band piled onto a bus Monday afternoon and headed to bandmate Zack Rincon’s house.

There, his mother, Teresa, sat inside, completely unaware of the private concert she was about to get. At around 3:30 p.m., her husband moved her wheelchair to the open front door, and she, for the first time, watched her son play the saxophone with his high school band.

Teresa Rincon has been battling cancer for a couple years and was recently placed on Hospice care. Throughout the year, her sister Cindy Durbin said Rincon wanted to see Zack play, but she wasn’t able to leave the house.

She was too sick.

So in November, Durbin called band director Eric Bradshaw and asked for a favor.

“I asked if it would be OK for Zack and a few of his bandmates to play in front of the house,” Durbin said.

Bradshaw had a counter offer.

“I asked if she minded us opening it up to the whole band,” he said.

As the band played, Rincon didn’t take her eyes off her son.

“She sat there the whole time and had the biggest, happiest smile on her face,” Durbin said. “It was something we haven’t seen in a long time.”

The band played for about half an hour, and soon after they began, neighbors began stepping outside to see the show.

“It was beyond anything I imagined or hoped for,” Durbin said. “It was wonderful.”

Bradshaw said he hopes they were able to bring a little relief and enjoyment to the Rincon family.

Asked what this meant to the band, he said, “Zack is a member of the band family, and this is what families do.”

Durbin called the performance a wonderful gesture of kindness.

“Zack has always been really close to his mom, and this has been really hard for him to accept,” she said. “He has another family in his bandmates, and I think if he didn’t realize that before — he does now.”

This story was originally published December 23, 2017 at 3:40 PM with the headline "High school band plays special performance for mom in Hospice care."