WATCH ABOVE: NFL’s Derrick Coleman surprises fans
Coleman recently shared his story of his rise to the top in a Duracell commercial. In the clip, Coleman talks about being the only legally deaf player in the NFL .
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“I didn’t let my hearing be an excuse,” he says in the commercial. “I’ll find a different excuse not even associated with my hearing regardless. I’ll make up something like I wasn’t focused or something, mainly because I don’t want people to get that perception of me.”
Inspired by the clip, nine-year-old Riley Kovalcik wrote a letter to Coleman and shared her own story of how she and her twin sister both wear hearing aids.
Last week, the girls’ father shared the letter on Twitter.
The next day, Coleman replied with the following:
On Thursday, Coleman surprised the girls on Good Morning America and gave the girls tickets to this Sunday’s Super Bowl as the Seattle Seahawks face off against the Denver Broncos.
Coleman is the first legally deaf player to play in the Super Bowl.
He began wearing a hearing aid at the age of three, after being diagnosed with severe hearing loss.
Coleman says he still doesn’t know what caused the impairment.
To date, Coleman’s YouTube Duracell video has over 13.7 million views.
– with files from The Associated Press
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