On Feb 5, 2012 the NY Giants defeated the New England Patriots 21-17 to win Super Bowl 46. As a Giants fan I take great pride in writing that. One of the big fans of the team was Colin Flood, who was battling leukemia. He got to meet the QB and Coach Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin. He was eight years old and loved getting the chance to not only meet his heroes but take a tour of the stadium and practice facility. He died 13 days after his visit. Coach and Eli sent condolences to the family.
Colin was survived by his parents NYFD firefighter Kevin & homemaker Jennifer along with a younger brother Brody. Brody is now 16 and another brother has joined the family, 11 year old Ryan. Tom retired from coaching in 2016. Eli retired January of 2020. Yet neither forgot Colin or his family. Tom has a special place in his heart for families with children who have leukemia. He met a kid named Jay McGillis while he was coaching at Boston College. That inspired him to create the Jay Fund to help those families. Since the Flood family is still on their mind all these years later, Coach invited them to have lunch with him and Eli.
There they surprised the family with 4 tix to this years Super Bowl!
Eli said when Coach brought up Colin's name I just remembered how much pain that family was in watching their little boy die. I said we should reach out to them and see if we can do anything for them. Coach said he could get the tickets and I said well I can cover their travel costs then. They are a wonderful family who could use some smiles.
Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images