Wayne Drash is a CNN reporter and the father of an 11-year-old boy with epilepsy – the same disease that Gophers football coach Jerry Kill lives with.
On Tuesday, Kill took a few moments during his weekly press conference to encourage people to watch the video Drash made of his family’s weekend in Minnesota, where they spent time with Kill and the players and watched last Saturday’s game against the powerful Ohio State Buckeyes.
“Watch that video and you’ll see that’s what life is all about,” Kill told the media, according to KARE 11. “It put me in a different perspective.”
https://twitter.com/DrashmanCNN/status/534735150312337408
In October, Drash wrote a lengthy article on CNN.com, profiling his son’s battle against seizures, which he has had as many as 15 times in a 12-hour period.
“My son is the class clown, quick with a joke and a laugh. He’s goofy, funny, outgoing and loveable. He adores firetrucks, police cars and big rigs. He’s also the toughest kid I’ve ever met.
“My son is far more than his epilepsy, but it affects his life in ways big and small.
“He’s had to give up his two favorite activities: swimming and biking. He wants to be able to drive someday. “Make my seizures go away,” he said as he tossed a coin into a fountain this summer. He made the same request of Santa last year and while blowing out his most recent set of birthday candles.”
In May, Kill and his wife Rebecca started the “Chasing Dreams with Coach Kill” fund. They donated $100,000 to get the funding started. Donations are used to help Minnesota teachers, students and school staff learn more about children with epilepsy.
“In the end the Gophers lost, 31-24; but that was a moot point to us,” Drash says in the video. “We had a mantra this weekend, and that was that no seizures would rob Billy of these memories.
“Mission accomplished.”
Fox 9 notes that Kill gave Billy a Gophers helmet and signed, “You’re my idol -Coach Kill.”
