Panthers TE Hayden Hurst plans to wear customized cleats against the Buccaneers to bring awareness over veteran suicides

Hurst has teamed up with the Face The Fight coalition, founded by USAA that raise awareness and support for veteran suicide prevention.

Panthers TE Hayden Hurst plans to wear customized cleats against the Buccaneers to bring awareness over veteran suicides

Hayden Hurst cleats campaign (Via Yahoo)

Handling the pressure that comes with playing sports at such a high level as the NFL is certainly not easy. And sometimes it gets so overwhelming that it leads to taking such a severe step that shouldn’t be the answer. This is why, awareness of suicide is extremely crucial in the world of sports. NFL players do that with their footwear, as they bring attention to such a cause.

In the My Cause My Cleats campaign by the NFL, the football players wear customized cleats, in order to, draw attention toward the causes of each player’s choices that would feature in weeks 13 and 14, this season.

YouTube video

Earlier this week, the NFL proudly presented the story behind Carolina Panthers tight end Hayden Hurst‘s cause, inspired by his own experience when he hit rock bottom. Hurst has teamed up with the Face The Fight coalition, founded by USAA that raise awareness and support for veteran suicide prevention. It works on creating an atmosphere to have an open conversation about this topic and provide support to those in need.

Hurts has involved his Hayden Hurst Family Foundation in his charitable cause. During a conversation with Fox News, the Panthers’ tight end said:

I think, unfortunately, in this country, military stuff kinda gets taken for granted, and I’ve got family members that serve and current friends who are in. They make the ultimate sacrifice for us, man.

He further shared his excitement to honor the sacrifices of military members saying:

I could not be more excited to team up with Face The Fight and the Hayden Hurst Family Foundation. There are a lot of core values that are similar, submerging those and being able to display them on my cleats for a game is huge for me.

How did Hayden Hurst overcome depression and addiction?

Back in 2016, the Panthers’ tight end Hurst woke up one morning in a hospital after a night of drinking. As he couldn’t recall anything from the previous night, his friend, who found him in a ‘puddle of blood’ told him that he had cut his wrist.

Hurst had been dealing with depression and alcohol addiction for quite some time now, but the suicide attempt that brought him to the hospital became a life-changing moment for him. In his words, it was a “come to Jesus moment” moment for him.

Hayden Hurst
Hayden Hurst (Via 11Alive.com)

Since then, he has worked on overcoming his mental illness and addiction. He has also, never been ashamed of accepting and sharing his story with others. His involvement in the cleats’ campaign and team-up with Face The Fight made him among the plethora of players who support such a notable cause.

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