DISABILITIES

By Daniel J. Vance

In a recent column, I shared the story of Boomer and Gunnar Esiason, father and son. Boomer is a former Cincinnati Bengals and New York Jets quarterback and current sports broadcaster. Fourteen-year-old Gunnar has cystic fibrosis (CF).

Esiason wanted to add more to our recent telephone interview.

“When you have a special needs child, your life is changed for the better,” he said. “For instance, the significance of trivial issues now pale in comparison to trying to keep your child alive. Gunnar has given me inspiration to fight something that is more important than any Super Bowl ring or Hall of Fame induction.”

After Gunnar's birth, Esiason and others formed the Boomer Esiason Foundation (BEF). Today, it's the nation's second largest foundation fighting cystic fibrosis, with the state purpose of helping drug companies move CF drugs through the federal approval process and on to market. In 2004, it raised more than $7 million.

“When talking to people that want to join our fight, I ask if they want to leave an everlasting mark on the human race,” said Esiason. “Like I said, this fight is so much more significant than leaving a mark in football or broadcasting. In reality, everything else (I could be doing) is somewhat insignificant. And there is substance to my words.”

According to the BEF website, CF affects about 30,000 Americans. People with it have very thick and sticky lung mucus that clogs the respiratory system and allows for bacterial growth. Currently, Americans with CF can expect to live about 30 years.

When both parents carry the CF gene, their children have a 25 percent chance of inheriting the disease. And more than 12 million Americans carry the gene.

Esiason has experience with disability besides CF. His mother died of cancer when he was only 7, and he has a number of friends whose children have disabilities. “It's amazing to me the number of people touched by disability,” he said. “I have about 15 friends that have children with disabilities, such as autism, asthma, CF or juvenile diabetes.” One friend of Esiason's, former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly, recently lost an 8-year-old son to a disability, leukodystrophy.

Obviously, Esiason has a tough fight ahead. But it appears as if the same competitive spirit that led him to Super Bowl XXIII is helping him with this fight, too.

For more, see www.danieljvance.com or www.esiason.org