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Raiders Bring Holiday Cheer With Visit To Kaiser Permanente – San Leandro Medical Center

Published

10 years ago

December 18, 2014

Members of the Oakland Raiders recently visited local hospital with the hopes of raising the spirits of patients, their families as well as hospital staff.

Raiders Tarell Brown, Brice Butler, DJ Hayden, Taiwan Jones and Darren McFadden spent time in several wards at Kaiser Permanente – San Leandro Medical Center, where they distributed gifts, greet new parents, met a man who had learned just recently that he was cancer free, a patient who survived a near fatality, and many more patients who appreciated the visit from members of their favorite team.

“It was amazing,” said Butler. “We saw a guy that is cancer free. Saw a guy that is healthy right now, but he said he was almost gone the other day. We saw a lot of things. For me, it just puts things in perspective that the life I’m living has nothing to really complain about. God has been good to me in my life. God has been good to these people too in these hospitals; they’re still here. The people here don’t take that for granted.”

McFadden echoed Butler’s sentiments, “I think it means so much to them. They might not have that many visitors come through. With it being the holiday season, you want to have family and friends come around, and being able to see some of the Raiders players come in and being big fans of the Raiders, people really enjoy it.”

>For Hayden, the visit took on another meaning as he suffered a serious injury on the practice field while in college.

“I know what they feel like being in the bed,” said Hayden. “I definitely know that feeling and know some of that pain. Just to see the smile on someone’s face that’s probably been in the bed all day, mind has probably been racing, they’ve probably been in the slumps all day…for us to come in there and make them smile a little bit, it’s probably the highlight of their day. For that little piece of happiness, it’s cool to me.”

For more information, go to: http://www.raiders.com/news/article-1/Raiders-Bring-Holiday-Spirit-to-Hospital/46521106-0dd1-4888-8da9-325d4d81a2b9