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How Jets' D'Brickashaw Ferguson overcame open-heart surgery to reach NFL stardom

Bob Glauber

Glauber has been Newsday's national football columnist since 1992. He was Newsday's football writer covering the Jets and

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The 10-inch scar down the middle of his chest served as a constant reminder of what D’Brickashaw Ferguson couldn’t do. Or at least what he was told he couldn’t do.

This was long before Ferguson grew up to be one of the NFL’s best offensive linemen, long before Ferguson even gave a thought to playing football and decades before he would finish a brilliant NFL career. He was a 9-year-old growing up in Freeport back then.