How announcing a Vikings first-round draft pick helped solidify the legacy of a fallen loved one
MINNEAPOLIS — If you were watching the NFL draft Thursday night you probably saw the Minnesota family handpicked to announce the Vikings' first-round draft pick, JJ McCarthy.
They were selected in honor of Minnesota Soldier Zach Ewing by the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, also known as TAPS. The Blaine native served in Iraq and Afghanistan and during his second tour, he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
"We were on pins and needles, we didn't know anything until the pick was in," said Becky Ewing, mother of fallen soldier Zach Ewing.
It was a special moment for the family of a fallen hero.
"It is every grieving family's fear that their loved one will be forgotten, it really is, so it's nice to know that its kind of solidified and that they are remembered," Ewing said.
Becky Ewing can smile big knowing her son's legacy lives on.
United States Army Sgt. Zachary Ewing was an Army Cavalry Scout. It was during his second tour in Iraq he discovered a bump between his thumb and index finger. It got so bad he could not fire his weapon.
He was sent to Germany to get it checked out and once it was removed, he and his family got the life-changing news.
"They said I have alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma," said Zach Ewing in an interview from 2015.
Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma is a cancer typically found in children that requires intense treatment. Zach's cancer had already spread to his pelvis.
He died in 2016 at the age of 24.
In 2019, the Minnesota Vikings honored him as a Hometown Hero, and now the honor of his family announcing the team's first-round NFL draft pick, JJ McCarthy
"Commissioner Goodell was so great with Asher because he was really nervous with all the people there when we got there, he saw all the people and he was very unsure if he wanted to go forward and announce it but he did a great job and he knocked it out of the park," said Ewing.
"My heart was beating I had so much adrenaline it was crazy," said Asher Ewing.
Zack's brother Trenton says He is also grateful for this memory he believes his brother orchestrated from heaven.
"I couldn't imagine anything as cool as that," Trenton Ewing explained. "It happened to be on my birthday which was a pretty cool way, I think that my brother was saying happy birthday so it was an amazing experience."