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Just a couple of months ago, Malik Boynton thought he had finally made it as a professional football player.

He was part of a new team in a new league and, after two weeks of being inactive, he was told he was going to be activated for the third game of the season by the Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football.

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“So there I was, thinking that all the hard work was paying off,” Boynton says. “Here we go, this is my opportunity, and I’m gonna make the most of it.

“The very next day I got a call during breakfast and they put me on waivers and I was out of there just like that.”

The surprise release was just the latest bit of adversity faced by the 22-year-old defensive back from the Detroit suburb of River Rouge.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers hopeful, who is taking part in the team’s rookie camp this week, was dealing with heavy blows long before he started pursuing a career in pro football.

At age 15, his mother died of breast cancer. Shortly after that, his father was laid off from his job.