Fan With Brain Injury Gets To Attend Big Game Courtesy Of Tim Tebow
BOSTON, Colo. (CBS4) - Each week Tim Tebow, through his foundation, brings in a special fan to watch the Broncos play. This week was no exception.
The Tim Tebow Foundation helps pay for the entire trip when the Broncos are on the road. But this week the fan didn't need to travel -- he's a Broncos and Tebow fan who lives in Boston.
Zack McLeod, 20, got national attention after the USA Today published his story on Friday. At second glance, he's a lot like Tebow.
Zack's parents will tell you about his faith.
"Not be ashamed about his faith in Christ and talk about it and people knew about his faith," Zack's mother Tammy McLeod said.
She also says Zach was one heck of a football player.
"Zack would have played football in college. He told me right before he got hit that he wanted to play," Tammy said.
During a scrimmage in Zack's junior year he had just intercepted a pass and ran it back for a touchdown. The hit happened on the very next play.
"We got a phone call saying, 'You need to come to Boston Medical quickly.' His prognosis was death to full recovery and anything in between," Tammy said.
It was a traumatic brain injury. Zack would never be the same. But his family says what kept them strong was their faith -- a lot like another football player.
PHOTO GALLERY: Tebowing
"Zack and Tim have so much in common," Tammy said.
They had seen Tebow play in college and then he signed with Zack's favorite team -- the Broncos.
"I wonder if these two will ever meet?" Tammy wondered at the time.
Thanks to a friend who called the Tim Tebow Foundation, the two men who have more in common than most got to meet.
"He would have played. He would have played just like Tim. And I'm not talking athletic skills, I'm talking his faith," Tammy said.
Tebow may have a huge following, but it's Zack's story that's inspired his own father.
"Wherever he's gone out I think people have been powerfully drawn to him. It's still happening," Zack's father Pat McLeod said.
