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Austin Jackson – August 3, 2021 Download PDF version

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

T Austin Jackson

(This is the first day in pads. Once you put the real pads on – WR Albert Wilson was just saying that OTAs and all of that, I wouldn’t say are boring for you guys but is this when the real work starts?) – “Yeah, definitely. We’ve been playing football without pads but no one does that in real life. Well, we are in real life. (laughter) But it’s just good to get the pads on and actually get some good thumps going and see what we can get better on.”

(You’re going to serve as an ambassador for a bone marrow donation. Can you talk about that?) – “Yeah, so about two years ago I became a donor for my younger sister, who has Diamond-Blackfan anemia, which is a rare blood disorder. She was born with but like a lot of kids with blood cancers, blood disorders and any type of anemias, their condition worsens as they get older. So about two years ago, I became a bone marrow transplant donor for my little sister, and I entered what Be The Match has, which is called the registry, where you sign up and get in the registry to become a donor. Tomorrow we’re having a truck come out and I want to encourage more people to donate. There’s like a rate of 30 percent – there’s a 30 percent chance that a minority would get a donor if they don’t immediately match with one of their siblings versus an 85 percent chance success rate that a majority person would get a donor if they don’t match in their family. Really, I just want to start getting the word out and talking about it. I went through it in the middle of a football season and came back and still had a great season. It’s not as bad as you think and it’s such an easy way to save a life. So easy.”

(How grateful are you that you have the platform as an NFL player to speak out about a cause like that?) – “I’m incredibly grateful. I’m blessed. I’m blessed beyond belief in these last couple of years and I’m really thankful. I’m a man of faith, if you can’t tell already. I’m really thankful and I’m going to do my best to keep getting the word out there and let everybody know.”

(How is your sister doing?) – “She’s doing great. She’s getting to meet up with a bunch of other kids too, kind of in a hospital like Make A Wish and stuff like that. She’s made a full recovery. She went from going to the doctor like once every two weeks to like never, so that’s great. She’s not the only one though. There are a lot more kids like that, and that’s why I really want to help those kids too by getting the word out.”

(Did anyone on the d-line impress you today, the first day the pads came on?) – “They all impressed me. Every single one of them. Each one of them is great. I’m excited to line up against them again tomorrow.”

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