After keeping his feelings private for nine months, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Trent Dilfer will open up this weekend in a nationally televised interview.
Dilfer is scheduled to appear on ESPN’s SportsCenter interview this Sunday to discuss the death of his son, Trevin, last April.
Trevin Dilfer died at a California hospital on April 27. His death came 43 days after a virus attacked his heart. He was 5 years old.
Among the topics Trent Dilfer talks about in the interview is the decision he and his wife, Cassandra, made to take Trevin off life support.
“The entire week we were faced with the decision: do we just let the machine die that’s keeping him alive, or, as the doctors put it, do the most merciful thing?” Dilfer told ESPN’s Andrea Kremer in an interview that has already been taped. “And, the most loving thing to do at that point, was to just say goodbye in a way that we felt was best.”
Trent Dilfer was at his son’s bedside through the illness and took almost two months off following Trevin’s death. He joined his Seahawks teammates at a minicamp in June and addressed the media briefly to thank them for granting his family its privacy.
That also marked the last time Dilfer, 31, directly addressed his son’s death in front of reporters.
“These guys and this team meant a lot to Trevin,” Dilfer said in a short, impromptu statement on June 2. “It’s been hard, but it’s been great too, being back with the guys and getting my blood hot for football again. It’s exciting, and he would be excited for me.”
Dilfer spoke to the media throughout the 2003 season, but preferred to talk about football rather than his own mourning.
The only other time Dilfer made public comments about his son’s death was in an article he wrote for a Christian magazine last fall.
The Dilfers have two daughters: Madeleine, 7, and Victoria, who will turn 4 next month.
Hawks hire strength coach: Mike Clark, who has spent the past 14 years as strength coordinator at Texas A&M University, has been hired to fill the same job with the Seahawks.
Clark replaces Kent Johnston, who retired in January following his fifth season in Seattle.
The Seahawks are still searching for a replacement for special teams coach Pete Rodriguez, whose contract was not renewed. The team is reportedly down to three candidates, including current special teams assistant Mark Michaels, and could announce a hiring as soon as today.
Rodriguez was hired by the Jacksonville Jaguars earlier this week.
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