Before he strode onto the NFL draft stage beside Roger Goodell to announce the Ravens first round pick, before he became a national treasure with an instantly viral fist pump, TJ Onwuanibe was in the commissioner’s private lounge doing breathing exercises. But before that, he was an 11-year-old kid in a hospital bed, clutching onto his favorite football and coming to grips with the word “cancer.”
On Feb. 16, 2015, TJ was admitted to the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., after his parents noticed that he had been struggling to read his euphonium sheet music.