Christian football player Tim Tebow might not have been successful in his National Football League (NFL) comeback with the Philadelphia Eagles, but he still managed to use his ties with the NFL to uplift the spirits of a young fan who is battling cancer.
The Heisman Trophy awardee visited the Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville recently and surprised Nathaniel, who is a huge Florida Gators fan, a TODAY report said. Nathaniel was wrapped in his Florida blanket and lying down on a Florida pillow with a stuffed Gator beside him on his bed when Tebow visited him at his room.
The young boy received a huge hug from the football player and felt so overwhelmed with joy that he broke down in tears. Tebow tried to start a conversation and asked him, "What's up Nathaniel?"
Tebow even grabbed the young boy's stuffed Gator and commented, "I love your bed! This is fantastic!" He then said he has heard so much about Nathaniel, and after hearing people say "awesome" things about the young boy, he thought, "I just have to come see him."
Nathaniel cannot stop crying, but after a few minutes with Tebow, he wiped the tears off his face and managed to tell him: "Thank you for visiting me."
The Tim Tebow Foundation even shared the video of the encounter on its Facebook page and wrote in the caption, "Nathaniel, you are an inspiration!"
The Tim Tebow Foundation even shared the video of the encounter on its Facebook page and wrote in the caption, "Nathaniel, you are an inspiration!"
"So AWESOME to watch Tim Tebow surprise our new friend Nathaniel at Wolfson Children's Hospital! What an incredible young man!" they further wrote.
The video has already received hundreds of thousands of likes, with fans expressing how they were touched by Tebow's kind gesture. "Tim Tebow is a class act and a great person. What Tim Tebow and many other athletes do for the community to give back is so great," wrote Brendan Laney.
"God put Tim Tebow on this earth for things way beyond playing football. He has a purpose for Tim and it has nothing to do with the NFL," Carolyn Crews wrote.
