I had a chance to spend a little time with former Michigan State Spartan, Detroit Lion and now Seattle Seahawk running back T.J. Duckett this afternoon in Mattawan.  More importantly, I got to watch as T.J. treated eight young boys…. kids he previously did not know….each of whom have a parent battling, or who had battled cancer…. to a day of fun at local arcade and fun park. 

“I’ve been through the whole experience,” said Duckett, who lost his mother to cancer when he was a kid.  “I know what they’re going through.”

After meeting the kids and their parents at the West Michigan Cancer Center, Duckett surprised the group with limo transportation to the “Formula K” fun spot in Mattawan.  There, Duckett treated the kids to go-cart racing, bumper cars, air-hockey, arcade games, and host of other activities.  

“When my mother was sick, she really didn’t have the ability, the energy or the time to do things like this,” Duckett told me this afternoon.  “Being able to take kids out who are in the same situation I was in and give some relief to their parents… I think that’s half the battle.  When you’re sick you worry about how other people are doing, especially your children.”

Duckett also gave each of the kids his personal cell phone number, as he gets set to head to Seattle for training camp. 

“I don’t want these kids to feel like they are by themselves,” Duckett said.  “(I want to) give them a chance to call me, whatever it is, in any situation that comes up, when they feel alone or they feel they don’t have anyone to talk to.  If I can talk to them on the phone when they’re having a bad day, I can remind them of what we did out here today.”

A simple gesture by a good man… yet one these eight young men, will never forget.