Grand Rapids golfer Joe Sedlecky knows how to keep a promise.
Sedlecky, 52, sealed a birthday card Sunday morning (Sept. 20) for his sister prior to teeing off at Scott Lake Country Club in Comstock Park during the eighth annual Michelle Lunn Hope Golf Outing, which has raised more than $200,000 to help fund blood cancer research by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and the Van Andel Institute as well as to provide scholarships and improve the quality of life of West Michigan cancer patients and their families.
The charity golf outing is in memory of Sedlecky’s late niece and goddaughter, Michelle Lunn, the daughter of Mike and Suzanne Lunn of Ada, who died from leukemia in July 2007.
Sedlecky’s card to his 56-year-old sister, Suzanne Lunn, wished her a “pleasantly unusual birthday” and included a vow to “try my hardest to get a hole-in-one” so he could donate the $2,500 prize to the Michelle Lunn Hope Foundation in her memory.
The long odds – an amateur golfer’s chance of an ace is 12,500-to-1, according to Golf Digest magazine – didn’t faze him, Sedlecky said.
“I went to church Saturday because I knew I was playing golf Sunday morning, and when I wrote the card to my sister the night before I meant it in all sincerity that I would shoot for a hole-in-one,” said Sedlecky, a computer aided design operator for the Alro Steel Corp. and a parishioner at St. Jude’s Catholic Church in Grand Rapids.
The Comstock Park native started his round at the Scott Lake club’s second hole, an uphill par 3 with a pin placement of 170 yards. Two teams were assigned to that hole as well as two hole witnesses. Sedlecky was the first player to hit, and on his first shot of the day, made the ace.
Sedlecky, his teammates and other onlookers erupted in jubilation.
“I’ve said a prayer before when I’ve played golf to get a hole-in-one, but this is the first time my prayer was ever answered,” Sedlecky said. “This is a dream come true for me to do it this way and it’s so much more special to share the experience with people you love and for such a good cause.”
Suzanne Lunn was focused on coordinating the charity outing event and did not open her brother’s birthday card to her until after she learned of his accomplishment. She was awestruck upon realizing her brother’s wish for her and her daughter had come true.
“We believe in divine intervention now,” said Suzanne Lunn. “I was having a hard time thinking about Michelle on Sunday morning and I asked her to send me a ‘big sign’ for my birthday that we were doing good things in her memory…and I think we got my ‘yes’ from her.”
“It was certainly one of the best birthday presents I’ve ever received,” Lunn added, “and I know Michelle was smiling as she watched her uncle’s amazing triumph.”
To learn more about the Michelle Lunn Hope Foundation and to donate, please visit http://mlhopegolf.org/.
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