Geneva police honor memory of 8-year-old Bills superfan

GENEVA, N.Y. — The Bills Mafia is in mourning.

A beloved 8-year-old fan passed away last night.

Little Eddie Mayerik had a lot of fans himself, including members of the Geneva Police Department, who organized a tribute to him today.

If you’re a Buffalo Bills fan, you know about little Eddie.

The Buffalo boy was born with two heart valve defects and essentially no pulmonary artery — which is the artery that brings oxygenated blood to your lungs.

But these struggles never stopped him from loving life, and especially the Bills.

Eddie’s father, Nick, has been using Twitter to document Eddie’s journey and his ups and downs. People got to know Eddie, his love for the Bills, and his perseverance.

The Geneva Police Department’s acting chief Matthew Colton has been following Eddie’s story for a few years now. And when Nick broke the news of Eddie’s death on Twitter last night, Colton knew he had to do something.

Today, his officers donned Bills jerseys in Eddie’s honor.

“At the end of the day, when we sit down, even us as police officers, we’re still human beings and we still have feelings and compassion and its important that we show that and it’s important that we show support for the family,” Colton said.

Chief Colton and his officers never met Eddie or his family, but if they had the chance to talk to Nick, they’d tell him this:

“That we love him, and go Bills,” Colton said.

Eddie’s father has a message for all of us too:

“So when you get up and you’re all irritated and you need your coffee and you’re griping about this and that, SMILE, that’s what Eddie would do.”