Seahawks free safety Earl Thomas spoke today about his charity, the Earl Thomas III Guardian Angel Foundation, which is going to start work with children affected by ADD and ADHD in Seattle and his hometown of Orange, Texas. Here’s what he had to say about it:
“I’m excited about it this year. This is the first year kind of put my hands on it, put my rhythm into it. It’s targeting kids and teens that have ADD and ADHD. It’s something I’ve battled my whole life, finding out more and more about it as I keep getting help. I want to give them that same opportunity.”
Thomas said he went undiagnosed while he was a child:
“I didn’t find out until college. So I always wondered why everything was so hard, why I was always daydreaming. My teachers always told me, ‘You can do it, you need to pay attention a little harder.’ I always thought something was wrong. I’m glad I’m getting help with it now.”
“Initially when I was [in college] at Texas I didn’t think two things about it, I just kept going and kept struggling. Coach [Pete] Carroll, he introduced me to a doctor named Ted Mandelkorn and he’s been helping me out a lot.”
“It’s just understanding what I have, that I’m not weird. Just a lot of self esteem issues, frustrations.”
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