Wes Horton and his friendship with a young fan and cancer victim

[ladypanther]

Wes Horton's devotion to this young man is impressive.  A lot of NFL players spend some of their Tuesdays during the season visiting hospitals...but this is a lot more than that.  I have so much respect for Wes as a person after reading this. You should read it all.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article213437254.html

 

Quote

 

Wes Horton went to see Noah Hays for the last time on a Saturday night, in his home in Charlotte, in a room where everything was too still.

The defensive end for the Carolina Panthers had come to think of Noah, 19, as a brother. They would joke and laugh together and forget the evils of the cancer that burrowed through Noah's body.

On this night, though, Horton could not easily find words. Noah could hardly move, and couldn't speak. ....................

 

[LinvilleGorge]

Awesome. Lots of great guys on our team.

I really wanted Horton to get replaced last year but he played damn well. He’s turned himself into a very solid rotational DE. Damn proud to have him on the team.

[Moo Daeng]

Horton has been solid for years. I don't know how you can expect more from a 4th DE

[Khyber53]

Good guy with good character, and he's a good player as well. 

[LinvilleGorge]

54 minutes ago, Moo Daeng said:

Horton has been solid for years. I don't know how you can expect more from a 4th DE

He had a breakout year last season in a purely rotational role. He had 8.5 career sacks in the previous 4 seasons despite having started 27 games.

[EgoDogg]

Well worth the read. Thank you for sharing, @ladypanther. Really hope Horton can bring it up another notch this season. Seeing the other side of some of these people (They're not all just Football players) really makes it hard not to root for them to stay on the team and succeed.

[Captain Morgan]

I'm so glad Wes Horton is on our team.  Not just because of who he has become on the field, but for the person he is off it.

We are blessed to have some very high character guys on this team, and I think some of the credit should go to Ron Riviera.  

[Toomers]

36 minutes ago, stbugs said:

While he started that many, he had 14%, 17%, 31% and 45% snap counts. He had over 40% last year. Not saying he was a good pass rusher until last year since he was known as a run stopper. 2 of the 4 years he barely played and likely played more in run situations. He had a great year last year and I’d love to have him locked up for a few more years.

 Well stated. It would be hard to hand-pick a better compliment to J-Pep at this stage of his career. Horton sets the edge on early downs(which has always been his main strength) and has developed the ability to get to the QB some. Something C.J. lost the ability to do around 2014. 

[KB_fan]

20 hours ago, ladypanther said:

I have so much respect for Wes as a person after reading this. You should read it all.

Ditto.

Thanks for posting this.  I'm blown away by Wes' commitment to Noah.  Sometimes people think those hospital visits are just photo ops / PR deals.  This proves how so many Panthers go above and beyond!!

[The Huddler]

Im skeptical of motolivations when its publicized like this

 

true heros are behind closed doors

[ladypanther]

2 hours ago, The Huddler said:

Im skeptical of motolivations when its publicized like this

 

true heros are behind closed doors

He spoke at the funeral...likely a public event.  I bet a family member or friend of the family tipped this off.  If he wanted publicity, there was plenty of time to tell about what he was doing long ago.

 

[Moo Daeng]

6 hours ago, The Huddler said:

Im skeptical of motolivations when its publicized like this

 

true heros are behind closed doors

True heroes poo on anything other people do that's positive. Right?

[The Huddler]

11 hours ago, Moo Daeng said:

True heroes poo on anything other people do that's positive. Right?

Uh, no they dont. 

[pantherclaw]

Sounds like a great human being. 

This world needs more of.