Former NFL player Jerome Harrison shared an inspiring message after surviving a brain tumor that had left him disabled.
“For the rest of your life you’re going to have people telling you what you can and cannot do,” the 35-year-old running back explained in a post on Twitter, according to ProFootball Talk Monday.
Cedric Griffin #23 of the Minnesota Vikings looks to tackle as Jerome Harrison #36 of the Detroit Lions carries the ball in the third quarter on September 25, 2011 at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Lions defeated the Vikings 26-23. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
“Nobody can determine what you do but yourself, and what I’ve realized through my life is my attitude controls everything,” he added. “I was told I would never walk again, I would live the rest of my life in a wheelchair. And I’m here standing in front of you today.”
The post has since been deleted.
Harrison was traded from the Detroit Lions to the Eagles in 2011 after six years with the league. A routine checkup by the Eagles club found the brain tumor and ended his football career. After he had surgery to deal with what was determined to be a benign tumor, doctors found a blood clot in his brain. He suffered a stroke which left him as a quadriplegic.
The running back is probably best known for his time as a Cleveland Brown player when he broke Jim Brown’s single-game rushing record of 286 yards in a 2009 game against the Kansas City Chiefs.