4-Year-Old Reese Donatelli Receives Threats from NFL Fans – Shocking Details

A playful tradition for a football-oriented family turned awful during the NFL playoffs as they received concerning online attacks.

Reese Donatelli and her father, Anthony Donatelli, from Riverside, California, have gone viral thanks to years of lighthearted videos. But everything changed during this season's road to the Super Bowl.

What used to bring joy suddenly spiraled into death threats, gambling outrage, and even an insult from a mayor rapper.

The Tradition for a Football-Loving Family

Anthony has always been a passionate football fan, particularly when it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers. When his daughter Reese was born, he wanted to share that passion in a way that also taught her about colors and geography. That's when he had an idea.

He bought a set of small NFL helmets online and began using them in a game with Reese. The first time he laid out the match-ups in front of her, she picked a team by tossing the helmet across the room.

Something clicked immediately.

So, Anthony started filming her weekly picks and sharing them online. He told the Los Angeles Times that he would present her with the upcoming match-ups, and she would pick on her own.

Reese, now a preschooler, quickly became an internet favorite for her joyful energy and surprisingly accurate predictions. Her picks were based on kid logic and many fans started following closely... but some took things far too seriously.

The Tradition Ends Up Souring

During the first weekend of the 2026 playoffs, Reese's streak of accurate picks ended. Instead of laughing it off, some viewers began accusing her of jinxing the games. Others claimed she had cursed the teams she chose.

What was once a wholesome, family-friendly tradition suddenly became toxic. Even worse, Anthony learned that some people had been using Reese's picks to place real bets on games, which they lost.

"It's nuts," he said. "She's obviously not an NFL analyst. She's picking teams based on the color of her dress, or she'll pick the Packers because she likes cheese. She just relates these silly little things as reasons why she picks certain teams."

But the backlash didn't stop at disappointed fans. Soon, he started receiving threatening messages, accusing Reese of costing people money and demanding explanations and even refunds.

Then, a celebrity jumped into the storm.

A Rapper Joins the Hate

Reese picked the New England Patriots to win their playoff matchup against the Houston Texans on January 18. The pick itself was innocent enough, but one high-profile person had a very personal reason to take offense.

Cardi B, whose partner Stefon Diggs plays wide receiver for the Patriots, went on Instagram Live and insulted the little girl over her prediction.

"[...] Little white girl said we're going to win. [Expletive] that, [expletive]," Cardi said during the livestream. Realizing how harsh it sounded, she quickly added, "I didn't mean to say that."

Ironically, Reese's prediction was correct. The Patriots went on to defeat the Texans 28–16 and advanced to the AFC Championship game.

Anthony Responds and Hopes to Continue the Tradition

While many would be outraged by the rapper's words, Anthony stayed calm. He made it clear that he didn't want to escalate the drama and had no hard feelings.

"I'm not here to fight fire with fire. I'm not angry," he said. "We don't want anybody or anything to ruin what Reese and I have created and how we bond."

So, how far off were Reese's predictions? The little girl missed all six during the first week of playoffs and only got one right the next week. That led to the online negativity, but her correct Patriots pick gave her a small comeback.

Anthony celebrated the moment with a tongue-in-cheek caption, posting a photo of Reese and writing, "The curse has been reversed."

Many followers played along with the joke, leaving sarcastic comments, like Reese put them into debt, which helped highlight how absurd it was for anyone to take a child's picks so seriously in the first place.

Unfortunately, although Anthony has said he and Reese plan to continue the tradition, he has made his social media accounts private as of January 22, likely to protect his daughter and family.

Unfortunately, Reese is not the only child to have received threats. As previously reported, Sofia Vargas, 4, the daughter of Deysi Vargas and her husband, was facing the unimaginable last year: deportation from the United States, where she receives specialized treatment that keeps her alive.

Desperately Needing to Stay

Born prematurely in Mexico, Sofia has battled short bowel syndrome, a rare and life-threatening condition that prevents her body from absorbing nutrients. For most of her life, she's relied on a complex system of intravenous and gastric feeding, with her survival dependent on access to specialized medical care.

Her condition demands a high level of precision and infrastructure — the kind that's only available through U.S.-based programs. Any interruption in her daily nutrition system, called Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN), could be fatal within days, according to Dr. John Arsenault of the Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

"As such, patients on home TPN are not allowed to leave the country because the infrastructure to provide TPN or provide immediate intervention if there is a problem with IV access depends on our program's utilization of U.S.-based healthcare resources and does not transfer across borders," noted Dr. Arsenault, who sees Sofia every six weeks.

A Letter from Immigration

That reality is now clashing with immigration policy. Last month, the girl's family, who had been granted temporary humanitarian entry into the U.S. via Tijuana in July 2023, received a notice that their legal status had been terminated.

The letter advised them to voluntarily leave the country to avoid deportation, a move that could immediately endanger the child's life.

The girl's attorney, Rebecca Brown of the pro bono firm Public Counsel, said the consequences of such an order are dire. "This is a textbook example of medical need. This child will die and there's no sense for that to happen. It would just be a cruel sacrifice," she shared.

Her Health Struggles

Sofia was born in Playa del Carmen after her parents, 28-year-old Deysi from the Mexican state of Oaxaca and her 34-year-old husband from Colombia, moved there for work. The couple met in Cancun where they were working before moving to Playa del Carmen so that Sofia's dad could work as an Uber driver.

At Playa del Carmen, Sofia was born prematurely and was immediately placed in intensive care. After identifying her condition, doctors performed six surgeries to remove an intestinal blockage.

However, Deysi said that too much of her intestine was taken out, leaving the child with short bowel syndrome. She suffered multiple bloodstream infections, one of which nearly proved fatal.

Her weight varied dramatically. Some months, she appeared severely underweight, with thin limbs and a distended stomach that seemed at odds with her family's access to basic resources. At other times, her cheeks were full, resembling those of any healthy infant.

When she reached 7 months old, a physician advised the family to move to Mexico City, which offered the country's most advanced pediatric care for her condition. While her health initially showed signs of progress, the infections kept recurring.

Unable to hold a job, Deysi spent every day at the hospital with her daughter. She recalled frequent issues: medication errors, nurses overlooking her daughter's needs, and finding her in soiled clothing because no one had cleaned her overnight.

Despite Deysi's vigilance, she said a nurse once accidentally accelerated the feeding system, causing the girl to rapidly urinate the fluids out. She became dehydrated and her blood sugar spiked, prompting another stay in intensive care until her condition stabilized.

Trying to Find a Solution

Deysi had read stories about children with similar diagnoses going on to lead healthy lives in other parts of the world. In Mexico, though, her daughter's condition remained unchanged by the time she turned two. When she learned of the CBP One app, which allowed migrants to book appointments with US border officials, she registered for one.

The program granted those accepted a two-year reprieve from deportation along with work authorization. Ahead of their scheduled appointment on July 31, 2023, the family traveled to Tijuana. Deysi carefully removed her daughter from the hospital, still connected to intravenous nutrition bags.

At the border, her husband disclosed that cartel members had once kidnapped and extorted him. Border agents also noticed the child's fragile condition. Later that day, the family was transferred to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. There, the girl's condition quickly improved.

While she had previously relied on 24-hour intravenous feeding, doctors gradually reduced her dependence as her digestive system strengthened. A year later, she was referred to Children's Hospital Los Angeles, home to one of the country's leading pediatric gastroenterology departments.

Both parents took up informal jobs, and by September 2024, they had relocated to Bakersfield. Their daughter was finally discharged. For the first time, she was able to explore the world beyond hospital walls, something that made her parents happy.

At a Walmart, her eyes widened in wonder as her mother pushed the cart through the aisles. Now, she still requires 14 hours of overnight IV feeding and carries a backpack to support the system when outside.

Still, for four times daily, Deysi administers a different type of nutrition that flows directly into her daughter's stomach via a gastric tube, each session lasting about an hour. At preschool, the girl carries a larger backpack filled with a milky fluid, and the school nurse handles her midday feeding.

Before bath time, Deysi disconnects her daughter's IV lines, rinses them with saline, and secures a plastic sheet over her chest to prevent water from reaching the site and causing infection.

Better but Not Ideal

Her medical expenses are covered by Medi-Cal, but daily life in the U.S. remains financially challenging. Their small living space holds only the essentials: a hot plate on a folding table, a mini-fridge stocked with nutrition packs, a single chair, and an IV stand. Without a full kitchen, Deysi often prepares simple meals like sandwiches or soups.

She recently began working regularly as a restaurant cleaner, and for a moment, things felt more stable. But in April, she received a notice from immigration officials via a series of emails. This month, she learned that her work authorization had been revoked.

With her husband out of work due to an injury, Deysi said they sometimes only eat once a day after covering rent, utilities, diapers, and other basics. She fears that losing her job could push them into homelessness.

The idea of returning to Mexico, where her daughter's condition once went untreated, is frightening. Deysi believes the treatment available there is still insufficient. She said they would have remained in Mexico if not for the severity of her daughter's illness.

Their plan is to stay only as long as treatment is necessary, though how long that might be is uncertain. They remain hopeful she will eventually no longer need supplemental feeding.

Working Within the Law

Their lawyer, Rebecca, submitted a request to reinstate their temporary humanitarian protection, citing the girl's ongoing medical needs. She believes the family's legal status was rescinded in error. "This is the intended purpose — to help the most vulnerable who need attention here. We can avoid having harmed the child and the family," she noted.

Gina Amato, one of a group of attorneys working for the family without pay, also said, "They were not given any reason as to why. There's no allegations that they have violated the rules or anything like that. They were supposed to have parole through the end of July."

Gina also emphasized that doctors had made it clear the child's life depended on uninterrupted treatment, stating that without it, she would die within days. For that reason, the family needs to stay in the US.

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at limiting the use of humanitarian parole. He directed that it be applied strictly on a case-by-case basis and only in situations involving urgent humanitarian needs or a clear public benefit.

Despite campaign claims that enforcement would target those with criminal records, many immigrants without any such history, including those like Deysi who entered using CBP One, have since received notices to leave voluntarily or face potential prosecution.

"These are being sent out indiscriminately across the country, but to see it sent to a family whose 4-year-old child depends on this lifesaving treatment is really shocking," Amato declared.

The app Deysi originally used to gain entry is now called CBP Home, which guides users through the process of self-deportation. According to the notice, failing to comply may result in the federal government locating them.

Last year, Deysi has launched a GoFundMe campaign, explaining that the unexpected shift in their situation has threatened Sofia's ongoing treatment at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

She wrote that any support would help them stay focused on Sofia's care during a difficult and uncertain time.

Meanwhile, the family’s lawyers continued to work to have the government reverse its decision, reinstate their humanitarian parole, and extend it beyond the original July 2025 expiration date.