[Daniel: When we are kids we dream big...and I was no different.]
Set, hike! Allemond takes a step, looking for a receiver-
He's gonna throw it- No he isn't, he's gonna take it himself!
The 20. The 10. And touchdown!
The Saints win the Super Bowl! Woo!
[My parents never stopped me from dreaming...but every mother worries]
[when her son wants to play football.]
You can start anything you want, son.
But you can't quit.
[I never did grow to be very big but man, I could hit.]
[And when I say hit, I'm talking about the hits you can hear the top of the bleachers.]
[But during a scrimmage my senior year something that sounded like]
[a shotgun blast went off in my knee.]
[I had tore my ACL. My season was over and I would never play football again...]
[So I started something new!]
[And before I knew it I found a girl that could actually put up with me.]
[A girl I could see starting a family with.]
[So I married her!]
[We had a blast that summer. I can't ever remember being happier.]
[I just didn't think sickness and health would come into play soon.]
[On September 15th, 2015 I was diagnosed with leukemia.]
[It was like somebody had punched me in the stomach and I didn't have anything to say.]
[I was in another world.]
[ I asked the doctor "Do I have a fight to be fought?" She said "Yes you do."]
[And I told her "That's all I need to know."
[Bob, my oncologist, told me about a new treatment program at Ochsner, something more tailored to people my age.]
[Turns out my best chance was to be treated using a more aggressive dose of chemotherapy.]
[The same kind that is used for pediatric cancer patients.]
[It wasn't like a normal doctors office there, it was much more laid back.]
[I played with the kids too. It took my mind off of being sick. Hopefully I was able to do the same for them.]
[No kid deserves to go through cancer.]
[No one does.]
[I started to wonder what my younger self would say if he saw the man he'd become...]
[Or what would I say to him?]
[I'd want him to know life's not always gonna be fair...]
[That there will be pain...]
[And that he will have to deal with some things he never thought he would.]
If you start something, you can't quit.
You're gonna have to face something in your life one day that's gonna be tough,
and you have to make up your mind,
just like on the football field, every play,
what are you gonna do?
Today's my birthday, I made in another year.
Not all the days were easy, I promise you.
But just like some days it's hot on the football field,
I wouldn't be here today if I would just quit!
So I just want y'all to remember
tonight and every day you live no matter
whatever you, do don't quit.
[Sports Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen please give a warm Saints welcome to our Ochsner Hero of the game...]
[Daniel Allemond!]
"Never quit", on three! One! Two! Three! Never quit!"