In choosing a cause to honor for the NFL's annual 'My Cause, My Cleats' initiative, Washington Commanders punter Tress Way's decision to support disease awareness in partnership with The Whole Hearted Foundation was a no-brainer.
Amidst the excitement and chaos of last season's playoff push, his little boy Brooks, whom Way and his wife Brianna adopted toward the end of last year's regular season, was born with a congenital heart defect.
Brooks underwent an emergency heart procedure during last year's unprecedented playoff run, which is when the Ways were introduced to the Whole Hearted Foundation, a non-profit that provides short-term assistance spiritually, financially, relationally and awareness to families whose children receive cardiac care.
"There was a family at [our older children] Beau and Harper's school that had reached out and they were like, 'If you have any questions, if you have any concerns, if you need to talk, we've been through this process.' They were just so supportive and kind of like opening their arms to anything they could kind of do to help. We found out that they had their own foundation, the Whole Hearted Foundation."
Thanks to the Whole Hearted Foundation, the Ways had support "every which way we could look" when Brooks was in the hospital for 18 days. It's a resource they wish they had known about when the Way's discovered their youngest daughter Hadley had a congenital heart condition years prior to Brooks' arrival.
"That's why Bri and I are so passionate with doing 'My Cause, My Cleats' for the Whole Hearted Foundation," Way said. "Thankfully, through church, through friends, through neighbors, we just had so many people rush to our side that just came and helped unsolicited. We are so fortunate and blessed that we had that, that we wanted to partner with Whole Hearted and back what they're doing because we saw it firsthand."
On the football side, head coach Dan Quinn, general manager Adam Peters and special teams coordinator Larry Izzo only asked Way to be at practice on days the team was practicing punts and field goals. After those sessions ended, Way was encouraged to join Brianna and Brooks at the hospital as he recovered from surgery.
"Honestly, I think the details that help hit home the most is that we're in the middle of this playoff push of like this incredible turnaround that we're getting to be a part of with the franchise, and all of these just really important things are going on. D.Q. and A.P., I mean they would just go out of their way to text every day, or if they saw me and practice was done they'd be like, 'What are you doing here? Go home, go to the hospital, we'll see you tomorrow.' And Coach Izzo, he's the same way. He's like, 'Hey man, get your punts. You're going to be ready for the game but there's some family stuff going on.'"
"Obviously we're a bunch of really competitive individuals -- that is just such a theme of this building, the franchise, these people inside the building, right now is just that everybody cares about each other. I feel like Bri and I get to be spokespersons for that in just catching it firsthand and witnessing it. Like when D.Q. says we're a family, it's a perfect example."
Against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Way will debut his custom cleats for disease awareness in partnership with the Whole Hearted Foundation. Although he won't be there in person, a healthy, happy baby Brooks, along with the rest of the Way family, will be supporting from home.
"He's doing great," Way said of Brooks, who is about nine months post-operation. "They've done all the checks and so they'll need to go in and check his heart in detail when he's about 15 or 16 years old, but he passed through all those checks. He's got a really tough, masculine looking scar right on his chest and he looks like a bad dude."
"That first pool party he goes to…we'll make up a shark attack or something fun for him. He is just full of life, he has taken everybody's attention in the house."
