GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Natalie Ball was a college-aged woman when former Gators linebacker Neiron Ball entered her family's life and became a permanent member.
Neiron's biological parents, mother Johanna and father Ronnie, died by the time he was 10. He found a home with Natalie's family, and they were by his side and his No. 1 fans until Sept. 10, 2019, the day 27-year-old Neiron died less than two years removed from his final game in the NFL with the Raiders.
I've written about Ball's remarkable life story multiple times, including
this tribute column when he passed away. Ball lived life with a glass-is-always-half-full mentality, showcased by a warm personality and infectious smile that anyone who met him recalls.
"Even when there were situations he shouldn't have smiled about, he was able to smile,'' Natalie said.
Neiron overcame being an orphan and a serious congenital medical condition known as arteriovenous malformation (AVM) — a tangle of blood vessels that can prevent blood and oxygen flow in the body and that plagued him until the end — to fulfill his boyhood dream of going to college and playing in the NFL.
Natalie needed time to mourn after Neiron's death, and she said this week that the process took two years. But she knew she had to keep her word to her younger brother.
"Neiron's last year in the hospital was a lot of ups and downs," Natalie said. "The last two weeks of his life, I realized it was looking bleak, and I promised him that I would tell his story, his life and what happened to him. I'll let everybody know your name.
"Once I came out of that darkness, I just sat down and wrote it."
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Natalie Ball is a longtime educator in the metro Atlanta area with 23 years of experience in public education and an adjunct professor at Mercer University. She has seen everything kids in a public school system must navigate and knows a story such as Neiron's can offer hope.
That is why she felt compelled to write a children's book titled "Neiron Is Just Like Me," which was released earlier this month by Covenant Books ($19.95) and is now available for wholesale order through the
Ingram Content Group. You can order online at
Amazon and
Barnes & Noble.
Natalie has kept Neiron's memory alive and healthy at
NeironBallLegacyFoundation.com. The foundation is in its fifth year and awards scholarships to Jackson (Ga.) High students in Butts County for $1,158 — representing Neiron's uniform number at Florida (11) and with the Raiders (58) — who face similar obstacles in their pursuit of success.
The book is another way to offer hope to those in need of faith that better days ahead.
"I see a lot of kids that go through similar things, actually a lot worse at 5 or 6 years old,'' Natalie said. "I wanted to tell the different tenets of what kids go through when they don't have parents, what happens when they have to be raised by someone else, and they have a medical obstacle. I wanted to motivate kids about how you don't have to be a victim of your circumstances.
"You can use energy like Neiron did to fuel that fire to your success. It's a motivating book. It's not about death. It's actually about life."
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