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| Boomer Esiason on the set of CBS Sports. |
Oprah is all about helping people live their best lives and CBS National Football League color commentator, WFAN radio morning host, and former New York Jets quarterback (okay, he began his career with the Cincinnati Bengals), Boomer Esiason, is doing the same. He is leveraging his celebrity status to help raise money to find a cure for cystic fibrosis, a disease of the respiratory and digestive systems. Why? In 1993 Boomer's son, Gunnar, was diagnosed with the disease. Instead of sitting around and feeling sorry for his son, Boomer created The Boomer Esiason Foundation to help fund research to find a cure.
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| Gunnar and his dad Boomer on the cover of Sports Illustrated. |
According to the Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Foundation, approximately 30,000 people in the United States have cystic fibrosis. Additionally, 10 million more are carriers of the defective CF gene, but do not have the disease. In case you are wondering, that equates to about 1 in every 31 Americans. The life expectancy for cystic fibrosis suffers was less than 20 years but there is significant progress. Thanks to Boomer's foundation, that number almost doubled over the past 10 years. To date, Boomer's foundation has raised over $80 million through a variety of charity events including golf tournaments to holiday shopping. Most recently, the NYC marathon included Team Boomer, a group of 120 athletes who helped raised $500k for his foundation. Go Team!! During a CBS interview, I was impressed with one particular athlete, Hayli Hodson. Hodson, who suffers from cyctic fibrosis, discussed her year long training and despite a few setbacks, managed to make it marathon day. Yes, I cried and not because I felt sorry for her but because she was so mature and matter of fact about living with the disease. The day I saw the interview, I was stressed over something (can't remember now) and watching this young woman speak to eloquently, made me feel stupid. We tend to stress over superficial things when we all should be appreciating life!
Gunnar, now 19, is a freshman in Boston College and also inspiring! In a joint interview with his dad, Gunnar discussed his life as a CF sufferer and his daily two hour treatment, which consists of clearing his lungs using a nebulizer and special vibrating vest that helps loosen excess chest mucus.
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| Father and Son |
There are many athletes who use their celebrity status to help those in need instead of getting them into the latest hot spot and that, by far, is proving to be the ULTIMATE team player! This story would get a big "Love That" stamp of approval from Oprah.
By the way, do you know of any other celebrity foundation?
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