Trip of a lifetime

John Groce poses for a picture with super Illini fan Allie Mathon after Sunday's game.Follow us on Instagram here

She joined the Orange Krush, made friends with the new AD, posed for photos with John Groce and got a standing ovation inside State Farm Center.

By late Sunday night, 10-year-old Allie Mathon was both tired and talked about.

“She whispered into my ear: ‘TJ, I think I’m famous,” said TJ Hodges, who helped make it all possible. “That’s when I knew how important the night was to her.”

Allie is a fifth-grader from Chatham but doesn’t go to school much these days. Taking on bone cancer eats up much of her time — and restricts much of her access — since the disease was detected late in…