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Former Seattle Seahawk and TCU long snapper, Clint Gresham, played in the NFL, won a Super Bowl, wrote a book and, now, has undergone a medical operation that has changed his thinking about being accountable for your own health.

Gresham went in for a routine brain scan offered to all former players and doctors found a large tumor.

Surgery was needed immediately.

He got the life-changing news as he and his wife, Matti, prepared to welcome home their first child.

"The doctor told me the next day that this was the most challenging tumor he's ever had to remove," said Grisham.


The former long snapper was cut from the Seahawks in 2016.

In May, he decided to take advantage of an NFL Players Association program called The Trust, launched to help ex-players with their health after football.

He traveled to New Orleans to do a brain and body scan at Tulane University.

Gresham went with concerns about concussions.

"As soon as it pops up, I see like this white mass in the corner and I feel like my heart go into my feet and I'm just like, what is that," said Gresham.

A biopsy showed the tumor was benign, but after getting a second opinion six weeks later, Gresham had a new sense of urgency.

Doctors told him the tumor could get dangerous fast, and the surgery is risky.

"There's a real chance you could have complete facial paralysis," he said doctors told him.

"To think, to be like, standing over my newborn daughter and I can't express anything, it just makes me cry even thinking about that," said Gresham.

"I had like a breakdown just thinking about, like, oh my gosh, I'm about to have a baby and my husband's going to have surgery," said Matti.

The surgery went well, and Gresham is smiling.

The couple now wants to tell other NFL players and others to take advantage of resources, and take control of their health.

"We would've gone 15 years down the road and, it's one of those things that, sorry man, you've got six months to live type of thing, so we feel incredibly blessed," said Gresham.

Gresham says some of the tumor actually broke off under his facial nerves as it was being removed, so this is still something he will have to monitor for years.

Gresham still credits the NFL and it's program, because without it, he would have never known about the tumor.

Matti will be have her baby on Wednesday.

They say the timing is strange, but they feel thankful to be focused on their family and their health through this experience.