Offensive lineman Laken Tomlinson cries before every game thinking about the daughter his family lost three years ago.
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“I love my family,” Tomlinson said in an interview with The Associated Press. “On game day, I play for my family. On game day, I play for her. Every game.Rachel Tomlinson gave birth to Claire Abigail via a scheduled cesarean section in 2019. The baby girl was premature, but the Tomlinsons didn’t expect the tragedy they experienced less than three weeks later when they left the hospital — without her.
“If I didn’t have those people in my corner, I don’t think I’d be here in front of you now,” Tomlinson said. “I’d probably be somewhere else, I don’t know.” That’s also when Tomlinson was sent down his next path — after his grandfather died from internal bleeding due to stomach ulcers while visiting Jamaica.
Tomlinson already has big plans for after he has played his last snap: Medical school, becoming a doctor and opening a hospital in Jamaica — in his grandfather’s honor.Until then, he’s living out another of his dreams in the NFL.