A VIKINGS GIFT OF HOPE

5/12//08 – 5/18/08

Most of you don’t know or have heard very little of this so what better way then to bring it to your attention. Kenechi Udeze who was drafted out of USC by the Minnesota Vikings with their first-round pick, 20th overall, in the 2004 NFL draft. As a rookie Udeze started in 15 games.

Although he had a serious knee injury in 2005 and missed 13 games, he came back to play in all 32 games the last two years and Last year he had five sacks. This past February however Kenechi Udeze was diagnosed with leukemia and Two weeks ago Kenechi Udeze revealed that the cancer was in remission, and that his older brother has matching bone marrow, for a pending transplant.

Leukemia is cancer of the blood cells. It starts in the bone marrow, the soft tissue inside most bones. Bone marrow is where blood cells are made. When you have leukemia, the bone marrow starts to make a lot of abnormal white blood cells, called leukemia cells. They don't do the work of normal white blood cells, they grow faster than normal cells, and they don't stop growing when they should. Over time, leukemia cells can crowd out the normal blood cells. This can lead to serious problems such as anemia, bleeding, and infections. Leukemia cells can also spread to the lymph nodes or other organs and cause swelling or pain. So as you can tell this is a very serious form of cancer and over time it can even lead to death.

Here is where the Minnesota Vikings came in to land a helping hand. As well as to send a message that “there are more important things in then football” this past Friday the Minnesota Vikings organization put Udeze on the reserve-non-football-illness list. This means that he will be ineligible to participate during the 2008 NFL season. But it guarantees him his salary for the year, which is $807,500.

This is and was a great move by the Vikings as well as to show, that when times are not going well for there players that they have what it takes. And are willing to help in anyway they can towards giving a gift of hope.

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RJ