Jack Hoffman

Jack Hoffman (born September 26, 2005), from Atkinson, Nebraska, is a current high school football player and pediatric brain cancer patient.

On April 22, 2011, Hoffman was having breakfast with his parents when he became unresponsive.

He was rushed to the local hospital in Atkinson, Nebraska, where he had a grand mal seizure lasting 30 minutes.

He was then flown to Children's Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, due to the life-threatening seizure.

He was subsequently diagnosed with a brain tumor.

While at the hospital, Hoffman continued to have up to ten to twelve seizures per day, even though he was taking anticonvulsant medication.

On May 20, 2011, he had surgery, but the neurosurgeon could only remove a small portion of the tumor.

Subsequent pathology showed that it was a cancerous glioma, a type of pediatric brain cancer.

Hoffman's parents then consulted Boston Children's Hospital for a second opinion.

Neurosurgeon Liliana Goumnerova told the Hoffmans that she could remove the golf-ball sized tumor.

On October 10, 2011, Hoffman had a second surgery.

Over 90% of the tumor was removed and the seizures stopped.

The surgery was followed by another sixty weeks of chemotherapy.

Burkhead agreed, and met the family in September 2011.

He had lunch with the Hoffman family, showed them Memorial Stadium, and decided he wanted to keep in touch with Hoffman.

On Friday, October 7, 2011, Burkead called Hoffman before his second surgery to wish him well.

The next day, Nebraska played Ohio State in a game nationally televised by ABC, and ABC announcers mentioned Hoffman's story.

At halftime of the game, Nebraska trailed Ohio State 20–6.

At that time, Burkhead thought about Hoffman and he said to his teammates "Jack's not giving up and we're not giving up."

Nebraska ended up winning the game, 34–27, which was the largest comeback in Nebraska football history.

In 2012, between his first and second brain surgeries, he was introduced to Rex Burkhead, then a football player for the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team.

Subsequently, a close connection developed between Hoffman and the team.

In September 2012, Hoffman walked with the Nebraska players onto the field for their game against Wisconsin.

On April 6, 2013, at the annual Nebraska spring game, Hoffman, aged 7, entered the game during the fourth quarter and ran for a 69 yd touchdown that received national and international attention.

He subsequently met with President Barack Obama, received the Best Moment ESPY Award for 2013, and the United States Senate approved a motion recognizing his role in raising awareness of pediatric brain cancer.

The Team Jack Foundation was formed by his parents, Andy and Bri Hoffman, to raise money for pediatric brain research.

Hoffman was born and is growing up in Atkinson, Nebraska.

His parents are Andy and Bri Hoffman (born Brianna Stiner) and he has two younger sisters, Ava and Reese.

In October 2013, Hoffman's father reported that an MRI revealed that the remaining tumor was the same size as in an MRI done in June 2013, indicating that it was not growing.

In April 2013, as the spring football game neared, Jeff Jamrog (Assistant Athletic Director for Football) had the idea of getting Hoffman into the spring game.

He ran the idea by football coach Bo Pelini the night before the game and Pelini approved.

Jamrog told the Hoffmans about their plan to get Jack into the game that night and the Hoffmans quickly made a uniform for him to wear the next day.

During the game, the Hoffmans were on the sidelines with the team.

As the fourth quarter began, the Red team had fourth down and one yard to go on their own 32 yard line.

Pelini called timeout and sent Hoffman into the game wearing number 22 (Rex Burkhead's number).

As of April 2014, his cancer was still in remission.

During the time between Hoffman's first and second surgeries, his father called Keith Zimmer who was the associate director of Life Skills at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Athletic Department.

He wanted to get a picture of his son with his favorite Nebraska football player, Rex Burkhead.

Andy, who briefly played football at Utah State before suffering a knee injury, had been a lawyer until selling his practice shortly after being diagnosed in 2020 with a brain tumor that ultimately claimed his life, and Bri is a pharmacist.

Jack began playing football at West Holt High School in September 2020, playing his father's old position of center; according to ESPN journalist Elizabeth Merrill, "222 steps away [from the family's front porch] is West Holt High School's football field."