Seattle Seahawks star Derick Hall was instrumental to the team winning the Super Bowl in February but a career in the NFL seemed extremely unlikely when he was born in 2001.
Hall, now 25, weighed just 1.5lbs and was given just a one per cent chance of survival when his mother gave birth to him four months early.
His mom, Stacy Gooden-Crandle, has revealed the horrifying details around the linebacker’s birth in 2001 in a new interview with People.
Gooden-Crandle revealed she was just 28 weeks pregnant with her second child when her waters broke and she was rushed into hospital in Gulfport, Mississippi.
‘He was not staying in that room,’ she said. ‘He wanted to come out. But the doctors were definitely preparing me for the “what ifs”.
Doctors believed Hall, who is now 6ft 3ins and weighs 265lbs, would likely be in a permanent vegetative state and advised his mom to allow life support to be discontinued.
Stacy Gooden-Crandle gave birth to Seattle Seahawks star Derick Hall after just 28 weeks
Now he’s an NFL star and recently helped the Seattle Seahawks to win the Super Bowl
But Gooden-Crandle refused, and Hall survived five months in an intensive care unit, frequent hospitalizations and intense asthma throughout his childhood.
‘He was born dead. He had to be resuscitated, put on life support, and he stayed on life support for a while,’ she added.
‘It was really touch-and-go for a long time. They said he only had a one percent chance at survival for the first two weeks.
‘I was nervous, but I’m a faith-based woman, and I felt like if God brought me to it, he could bring me through it. We celebrated when he got off life support. We celebrated when they took out the feeding tube. We celebrated every single victory. He just had this innate ability to fight.’
Hall began playing flag football at four-years-old, and after a standout career at Gulfport High School was a star defensive end at Auburn.
‘I started playing the game just to be able to get my lung capacity up. Just to be able to run around a little bit,’ Hall said. ‘I fell in love with the game. It allowed me to be a normal kid.’
He was selected by the Seahawks in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft and quickly entrenched himself as a key cog in Seattle´s defense.
Less than three years after he was drafted, Hall was one of a number of standout defenders for the Seahawks as they dismantled the Patriots back in February and made a crucial play that opened the way for Seattle to win its second Super Bowl.
Hall sacked Drake Maye in the third quarter of the Super Bowl and stripped the ball for a fumble
Hall finished the Super Bowl with two sacks after getting only two all season before that
The Seahawks had throttled the New England Patriots all game but still only managed a 12-0 lead when Hall sacked Drake Maye in the third quarter and stripped the ball for a fumble that was recovered by Byron Murphy II.
Five plays later, Seattle reached the end zone for the first time on a 16-yard touchdown catch by A.J. Barner on the way to a 29-13 victory. It was the first turnover of the game and essentially helped Seattle put the game away.
Hall finished with two sacks after getting only two all season.
Shortly after the win, Gooden-Crandle tapped Hall on the shoulder so they could hug. The waterworks came soon after as both broke down and shed tears of joy.
‘Mom doesn´t miss a game,’ Hall said. ‘From the time I started playing football at 4 to tonight, my mom has been at every single game.’
