Scribbler's Highlight of the Week: Jack Hoffman

In the everyday struggle called life, it seems like we're on a perpetual roller coaster ride.  We don't give ourselves credit enough for who we are, lose sight of or don't recognize whose we are, and overlook how special we were made.  We get distracted by the trials and tribulations that befall us on a regular basis, and as a result, we often focus on the size of circumstances and assume that we can't overcome them.  When nothing seems certain but death and taxes, it's extremely hard to remain positive or believe in anything or anyone good.  That's why I'm so inspired by this week's "Highlight"--which might easily be my "Highlight of the Year"--because seven-year-old Jack Hoffman is the very antithesis of a defeated attitude.

In April 2011, Andy Hoffman and his wife were told that their son Jack had a golf-ball sized tumor at the stem of his brain after Jack suffered a massive 30-minute seizure--something that would become commonplace for months at an alarming rate of nearly a dozen seizures a day despite medication.  However, after undergoing two very risky procedures to help remove the tumor and in the face of doctors telling the Hoffmans that their son "might not wake up", Jack survived.  Before the second surgery, Jack and his father compiled a "bucket list" in case the surgery wasn't successful.  A high priority was meeting Nebraska Cornhuskers' running back Rex Burkhead--Jack's favorite player on his home state's storied college football team.  After a three-hour drive, that dream came true.  What Jack--who has garnered a huge amount of support from the Cornhuskers via his relationship with Burkhead--didn't bargain for was being Nebraska's head coach Bo Pelini's first thought in terms of including a fan in their annual spring game.  The end result is the above video.

I know some people may think, "Aww man, they let him score that touchdown."  While Pelini admits that they did, that's sooooo not the point.  Allowing "the toughest kid in Nebraska" that has survived two brain tumor surgeries to wear the same number as his hero and score a 69-yard TD run in front of over 60,000 fans not only speaks volumes about the integrity of Nebraska's football program, but more important, it speaks life into Jack Hoffman and everyone who witnessed it.  Here's what Jack's hero said about him:

Jack has taught me a lot about life.  He's put my life in perspective.  To see Jack battle, it's something I never had to go through when I was a kid.  But he's still living life and having fun and laughing.  Just seeing that is motivation for me.  If there's anything in my life that I think is hard, I take a second look at it now.

Perhaps more important, Jack's run also raised awareness to the cause of pediatric brain tumor research--something that could speak life into numerous other children who desperately need it.  Before Jack's TD run, Burkhead had already started a Nebraska chapter of the nonprofit organization Uplifting Athletes and has been able to raise over $300,000 for research.  Imagine how many more people will lend a helping hand after seeing this video.

Some subscribe to the notion that "there's no need to complain because someone always has it worse than you".  I've long quoted motivational speaker Willie Jolley, who spoke at our job years ago and said, "There's no need to complain because 80 percent of people don't care and 20 percent are just glad that it's not them."  However, Jack's situation makes me look at being thankful without complaints on a much deeper level: there's no need to complain because if God can work miracles through a little boy who survived something that many other children and people don't while further improving that child's situation, then how much harder are our obstacles for God to handle and for us to overcome with His help?  If Jack Hoffman continued to fight and have a positive outlook on life in spite of his difficulties, then shouldn't each and every one of us do the same and many of us are in much less dire straits than he is?  Jack Hoffman is not only a living example of how "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much", but he also epitomizes that no matter how young or old we are, we have as much life in front of us as we choose to have.  No, he may never play football or any sports in his life, but he might grow up to be that doctor who does critical, groundbreaking research for the very cancer that nearly took his life.  No matter what he does, I'm with the commentator in this video: "Rumble, young man, rumble."