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The Football Life of a Special Needs Dad

By Digger O’Brien, NFL Films

Imagine loving sports all your life, then getting a dream job with the NFL working for Steve Sabol. And imagine you can’t wait for the day when you can share it all with your son—until you find out that day will never come.

I have four kids; my son Frederick is 13 years old, and has a diagnosis of autism and mental retardation. If you asked him his favorite athletes, he would say Elmo, Cookie Monster and the Count; those are his three favorite people and he doesn’t know what an athlete is.