The Eagles do more than just prepare for the next season in their off-season. On April 11th, Zach Ertz made a surprise visit to St. Norbert School in nearby Paoli to surprise his number one fan, J.D. Sobota. There is more to this friendship then just the surprise though.
Back in February J.D. was going through radiation on his brain in hopes to cure him of arteriovenous malformation, this occurs when there is a tangle of abnormal blood vessels connecting artiers and veins in the brain. Lesile Gudlel posted a picture of J.D. on twitter showing off his radiation mask decorated in honor of his favorite player, Zach Ertz. Ertz replied to the tweet:
Fast foward a couple of months and he's showing up at J.D.'s school with brand new Ertz jersey signed by the one and only Zach Ertz. As Ertz walked in one kid shouted "is this real life?" J.D. said, "I'm surprised" as he watched his favorite player scribble his name across his new jersey. He couldn't wait to get home to wear it so he threw it right over his uniform.
Ertz went around to all the classrooms surprising fans and giving out high fives. One student even said "I'm never washing this hand again!" Zach explains how he can't imagine what J.D. has to go through and, "Hopefully giving him today without thinking about all of that adversity he's facing and just really focus on the joy that life is bringing even as he's dealing with this."
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