Tim Tebow has played football with Pro Bowlers and even future Hall of Famers, but none was as inspirational as the 10-year-old he got to play with this week.
On Wednesday, the Heisman Trophy winner traveled to Perry County, Pennsylvania, where he met 10-year-old Deven Jackson. The youngster lost both legs to a rare illness three years ago, but it didn’t take away his love of football or his resolve to play the game with his peers. This season Jackson joined the local midget team.
Tebow spent the day with Jackson and his family, throwing a football with the boy and talking to Deven’s team. Tim Tebow is also doing a story on the boy for Good Morning America, and helping the midget team raise he $10,000 it will cost to buy Deven Jackson the equipment he needs.
This isn’t the first time Tim Tebow has used his celebrity to help others. Earlier this summer, he met with 15-year-old Haley Burke, who was battling an inherited connective tissue disorder known as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
When Tebow found out that he was the teen’s favorite player, he flew Haley and her family to Scottsdale, Arizona, putting them up in the presidential suite of the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort. The family got to spend a day at a spa, take an aerial tour of the Grand Canyon and Haley herself got to throw out the first pitch at an Arizona Diamondbacks game.
Burke also got to spend time with Tim Tebow at his training session and later he had dinner with them.
“They’re amazing,” Tebow told People magazine. “The entire time I was with them, I was so inspired by their strength and courage in facing every day and every struggle with a positive attitude.”
While Tim Tebow is spending much of his time helping others, he apparently isn’t giving up on hopes of an NFL return . Tebow has started work as an analyst for the new SEC Network but has an out clause in case an NFL team comes calling.
[Photo via Cumberlink.com ]
