Former Carolina Panthers TE Greg Olsen Shares Heart-Warming Video Of Son After Successful Heart Transplant

Greg Olsen and woman with a baby

The sole purpose of this post is to show you the most precious and heart-warming thing you’ll see today.

Former Carolina Panthers tight-end and current Fox Sports broadcaster Greg Olsen shared a video of his son, 8-year-old TJ Olsen, after he underwent a heart transplant surgery on Friday.

In 2012, TJ was born with congenital heart defect and has already had four surgeries, one of which was to implant a pacemaker.

Shortly after the birth of TJ and his twin sister Talbot, Greg and his wife Kara started the HEARTest Yard foundation in an effort to support families who could not afford the medical bills that often pile up for families in similar situations.

According to ESPN, they’ve donated millions of dollars to their foundation, including money on top of that to go towards a 25,000-square foot facility at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, which has since been named the “HEARTest Yard Congenital Heart Center.”

They’ve done some truly incredible things in the Charlotte community, and have continued to do so even after Greg moved on to other NFL teams, and ultimately, retired earlier this year. Using the word classy to describe their family would be a complete and total understatement.

Just days after surgery, TJ thanked everyone who has encouraged their family during this extremely uncertain time in a video his dad posted to Instagram:

“Hi everybody. Thank you for thinking of me. Thank you for praying with me. We love you guys, bye.”

I mean, how freaking adorable is that? What a little fighter. That’s one tough kid.

In another post right after the surgery, Greg confirmed that everything was looking good so far:

“All early signs have been positive. Your prayers and well wishes have been working and we’re beyond grateful.”

And the family has had an incredible attitude and outlook throughout the entire process, from first learning the time was near for TJ to get a new heart, to just 8 days after being placed on the transplant list. They assure everyone that, while they can’t control everything from a medical standpoint, they have hope:

“Walking our little boy, with tears of hope and fear in our eyes, was one of the toughest moments of our lives.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for the outpouring of support through this entire journey.”

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