Sports
4x Cancer Survivor Fulfills Dream With Minnesota Gophers: WATCH
Some things are bigger than sports, and Gophers holder Casey O'Brien proved that Saturday.
The Minnesota Gophers dominated Rutgers Saturday, 42-7. The blowout allowed one young man to fulfill his dream in a moment he — and the rest of his team — won't forget.
Casey O'Brien, a four-time cancer survivor, made his college football debut in the fourth quarter. O'Brien held the snap for one of the Gophers' many successful extra points last night.
He had never played a second before that.
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After the play, O'Brien embraced coach PJ Fleck, with both shedding tears.
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Sometimes it's about more than just football. Four-time cancer survivor Casey O'Brien and P.J. Fleck shared a moment after O'Brien's first hold of the season for @GopherFootball.pic.twitter.com/Fzs84gceTs
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) October 19, 2019
"No one can ever take away that he played college football, in the Big Ten." - P.J. Fleck (@Coach_Fleck), on @GopherFootball's Casey O'Brien (@caseyob14) pic.twitter.com/HzHwCRrKrU
— Minnesota on BTN (@MinnesotaOnBTN) October 19, 2019
O'Brien was diagnosed a rare form of bone cancer when he was a freshman in high school. He's spent hundreds of nights in the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital.
Before Saturday, O'Brien said he would think about getting a chance to play every night.
His story was featured on ESPN College Gameday late last month:
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