Major League Baseball and MercyOne surprise veterans with Field of Dreams tickets

Dubuque, Iowa – MercyOne is excited to once again welcome Major League Baseball to MercyOne Dubuque Medical Center ahead of the Field of Dreams game taking place tonight in Dyersville, Iowa. Earlier today, MercyOne had the privilege to host Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred to surprise three families with ticket packages to this exclusive experience:

Sean Edaburn of Dundee, Iowa, is a respiratory therapist at MercyOne and continues to serve as a sergeant first class in the United States Army. One of his most memorable deployments was to recover vehicles that had broken down on missions or had been disabled by roadside bombs in Iraq. During his year-long deployment, which included 146 combat missions, he drove over 8,000 miles and his team recovered 42 vehicles without any injuries or loss of equipment.

At MercyOne, during our largest and most challenging COVID-19 surge, Sean volunteered to redeploy from his usual role working day shifts to working full-time nights in the COVID-19 unit as a respiratory therapist, caring for some of the most severely ill.

Tori Kilburg of Bellevue, Iowa, is a United States Army combat veteran who served in Iraq. On the first day we started identifying veterans upon admission, Tori was admitted to the birth center to welcome her daughter, Sunny. Tori and her husband Jeremy, who is also a combat veteran, joined us for the launch of MercyOne Military and Veterans Health Care in Dubuque to celebrate Sunny and promote the visibility of female veterans.

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The family of Jason Thomas Wilcox, who grew up in Cedar Rapids and Solon, Iowa also received tickets through TAPS. Staff Sergeant Wilcox lost his battle with post-traumatic stress and died by suicide on October 8, 2016, his 32nd birthday. At the time of his death, Jason was the youngest Army Wounded Warrior advocate in the country. SSG Jason Thomas Wilcox will be represented at the game by his parents, Janeen and Ron Wilcox; and his nephews, Sawyer and Cooper.

Commissioner Manfred was joined by MLB Chief Operations and former Major League All-Star and current Senior Vice President of On-Field Operations Raul Ibañez. On hand to welcome the group were the dedicated care team members at MercyOne.

Top photo: Sean Edaburn


Middle photo: Tori Kilburg with her family, Rob Manfred, Raul Ibañez


Bottom photo: Wilcox family, Rob Manfred, Raul Ibañez