Senior Day is always special, but to Michael Jefferson Sr., it meant so much more.
By: Evan Roberts | Associate AD for Communications and Digital Strategy
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When Michael Jefferson Sr. walked out of the tunnel and on to Cajun Field to celebrate Senior Day with his son, Michael Jefferson II (MJ), and family, it was a moment he never thought he would get to experience.
Nearly 12 years to the day, just before Thanksgiving in 2010, he experienced a cataclysmic moment just months after being diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia.
Jefferson Sr. was feeling under the weather and was unable to attend MJ's youth football championship game. As MJ and his mom, Constance, arrived at their home in Mobile, Alabama, excited to tell him about the triumphant victory and show off the trophy, they found Jefferson Sr. lying on the floor in severe pain and rushed him to the hospital.
"I had gone through chemotherapy and radiation for about four months. I wasn't feeling well that week so I didn't go to the game and stayed home," Jefferson Sr. said. "They came in the house and found me lying on the floor because I couldn't get any further. I crawled out of bed and couldn't get to the phone to dial 9-1-1."
At the hospital, the doctors told Jefferson Sr. that he contracted an infection in his colon called clostridium difficile colitis.
"It had been hurting for a couple of days, but I let it balloon up until it was the size of a lemon," Jefferson Sr. explained. "It was deteriorating the inside of my colon and my stomach lining. They had to do an emergency surgery on me where I had to wear an endoscopy bag for seven months until they could go in there to repair it because of the cancer treatment."
While the doctors were explaining the surgical options and the post-procedure effects, Jefferson Sr. told them to just give him some medicine and let him go to sleep.
He had lost the will to live.
"When they rushed me to the hospital I thought they were going to have to give me a colostomy bag. I know once you get one of those on, you don't get that corrected," he said. "But my cancer doctor told me we aren't in the barbaric days. We can reverse this. I just kept telling them to give me some medication so I can just go to sleep. I am good. I lived my life."
Unbeknownst to Jefferson Sr., MJ was standing at the door and heard his father. One of the nurses began to console MJ, who was in the hallway crying thinking he was going to lose his dad at such a young age.
"At one point, he told me that he had lived his life. He said 'with what I've taught you in life I hope you took it and make the right decisions. You'll be a good person that can provide for the household.' He showed me the way. He taught me how to make the right decisions," MJ said. "He was telling me at the end of the day, everything is going to be OK. He told me he had lived long enough and was tired of all the pain but we had a long talk and he ended up giving it another shot."
Giving life another shot is what the Jeffersons did.
MJ had to grow up quickly and knew what he had to do. When doctors were telling Constance how to take care of Jefferson Sr. after the surgery, MJ quickly spoke up.
"The doctor was explaining how to take care of the wound and what I need to be eating because I couldn't eat anything," Jefferson Sr. said. "I only had a small intestine. I had to eat soups and mashed potatoes. I couldn't eat anything solid. I was literally eating out of a straw. MJ told the doctor 'Don't tell her what to do. Tell me what to do because I am going to be the one to take care of him.'"
And that's what he did.
For months, MJ would stick by his dad's side, take care of him and do whatever he needed. To keep spirits high, the pair set goals for one another. For MJ, all his dad wanted him to do was make good grades. For Jefferson Sr., it was about getting better every day.
"We tried to lift his spirits up with good grades and good things that my mom or my brother accomplished," MJ said. "Once we got to see him accomplish one goal, we would make another goal. It uplifted him and motivated and pushed him to get better."
For those six months, MJ would go to school, come home and take care of his dad. He wouldn't go play outside with his cousins at the park or play basketball or football in the front yard. Even at a young age, MJ knew the importance of family, a lesson passed down to him from his father.
"I was always taking care of him at the hospital or I was helping him change his bags because my mom was at work. It was tough and challenging. All I wanted was the best for my dad because he has always been there for me," said MJ. "I also wanted to be a kid and go out and play on the weekend, but the most important thing was to make sure he got better so he could take care of the family. He makes sure the family stays together. He has always preached to me about family."
MJ quickly had to grow up quickly and take care of his father. (Photo courtesy of the Jefferson family)
At his young age taking on the responsibility of taking care of his dad, MJ quickly matured.
"We have a special boy today because of that. He had to grow up quickly. He was in elementary school at the time," Jefferson Sr. said. "He would go to school, come home and take care of his daddy. He wouldn't go outside and play with the kids. He had to take care of me because there were days where I couldn't do anything for myself. He could tell when I was having my good days because we would be laughing and joking and I would ask him what he did in school. He had to mature fast. He became humble and he appreciated everything I did with him. He stuck with me through thick and thin."
As time rolled on, Jefferson Sr.'s health improved and so did MJ's athletic ability. Jefferson Sr. was able to attend his football games in high school.
He was back to doing what he loved, which was watching MJ excel on the football field.
Jefferson Sr. and MJ built a bond through sports and it strengthened off the field. (Photo courtesy of the Jefferson family)
Jefferson Sr. had been MJ's coach during his youth football days and that never changed when he was in high school even if he wasn't on the sidelines. While MJ was at Murphy High School, the Panthers were taking on Foley High School. Jefferson Sr. and his cousin were in the stands and continued to coach him from afar. Jefferson Sr. knew that MJ wasn't playing up to his ability and quickly called him out on it.
"I kept yelling 'if you aren't going to play, get off the field!' The coaches know me because I'm like a bullhorn," Jefferson Sr. said. "They were telling me to leave him alone and calm down, but I know once I got in his head he could operate. He caught a touchdown and just looked at me and shrugged. He went back out there and caught another touchdown and just looked at me. When he caught the third touchdown, he looked at me and yelled 'is that enough? Is that enough?'"
MJ's fight and determination landed him a scholarship offer from Alabama State where he spent three seasons. While he continued to dominate on the field with 84 receptions, 1,192 yards and 18 touchdowns, life off the football field took a turn for the worst.
While he was a freshman, his parents had bought and fixed up a Monte Carlo SS for MJ that was stolen. Shortly thereafter, Jefferson Sr. got news that took him by surprise when he was in New York for his daughter's baby shower.
Before leaving in February 2019, Jefferson Sr. went to the doctor because he wasn't feeling well for some tests. The next day, he hopped on the plane to be with his daughter. Two days later, he received a call from the doctor that told him he needed to return to Alabama immediately.
The cancer had returned.
The leukemia had come back as a different strand and this time was more aggressive.
"They called me with the results and asked me if I was with my wife," Jefferson Sr. said. "I thought 'here we go again', because when I got diagnosed the first time they told me they wanted to have a family member there. So I went upstairs and grabbed my wife and we went outside to the car at my daughter's apartment. That's they told me the leukemia is back. It's a different strand and it's more aggressive. They asked me if I could come back home and I told them I am not missing my daughter's baby shower. I flew back the next Tuesday and I didn't even go back to my house. I went from the airport to the hospital and I stayed there for seven months."
Jefferson Sr. stayed at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, an 84-mile drive from MJ at Alabama State. MJ wanted to quit football and be by his dad's side again.
His dad had different plans. One of those goals they made years earlier was for MJ to graduate college. That's all he's ever asked of MJ.
"He wanted to quit and help take care of his daddy. He wanted to help his mom work and help me because I couldn't do anything. I told him you ain't going to leave school," Jefferson Sr. said. "We made an agreement bedside that he was going to stay in school, play football and graduate. That's all I required of him. If I close my eyes and die tomorrow just promise me that you graduate college. That's all I wanted for him."
So MJ stayed in school.
MJ and his father after a game at Auburn. (Photo courtesy of the Jefferson family)
With his dad in Birmingham, whenever he would have the chance, he would have to borrow a teammate's car or have a teammate drive him. Despite the constant travel and the worry of his dad's health, it didn't impact the 6-foot-4 receiver on the field as he had a breakout season, catching a team-high 49 catches for 767 yards and 12 touchdowns, which tied the school single-season record.
"Every time he had a break he would come visit. His teammate, Jeremiah Hixon, let him borrow his car or another teammate would drive him up," Jefferson Sr. stated. "I used to have players come in and check on me. It was three players who helped him through the process. Jeremiah, Jahod Booker and Keenan Issac. They rallied him and was his support system."
During his second round of treatment in Birmingham, Jefferson Sr. received a bone marrow transplant from his brother and had to stay at the UAB Hospital for several months.
This time, Jefferson Sr. had the will to live, especially with the birth of his granddaughters, but the goals that he and the family made the first time were still there.
"After I had my bone marrow transplant I still had to be near the UAB Hospital at Hope Lodge. I had to go to the doctor every day and the Hope Lodge is about a quarter of a mile from UAB. I couldn't walk there but I had to be transported every morning to have tests, have a shot and chemotherapy. I had to do that for three months. So what we did was set goals. My wife would keep track of my goals as well as MJ's. We set the bar on what he would need to get in this class or what he would need to get in that class. He would bring projects to me and I told him what I expected him to get," Jefferson Sr. said.
"In return, I had to get better every day and push myself," he continued "Every day I had to push myself even more. I had laid down on my back so long that the muscle mass in my legs was gone. They had to teach me to walk again. For a while, I couldn't even talk. I had to communicate by writing on a pad until my lung capacity got strong enough to where I could hold a conversation. It helped him and it would help me. I had granddaughters at the time so I had something to live for. I had to get up and I had to get back to being healthy."
The fighter he is, Jefferson Sr. beat cancer again.
He had accomplished his goals through all the trials and tribulations.
It made that Senior Day moment so special.
Looking back, he never thought he would get to be with MJ at his high senior day, let alone the one at Cajun Field.
MJ and his father during Cajun Walk. (Photo courtesy of the Jefferson family)
After two battles of cancer and coding out the first time he was in the hospital, Jefferson Sr. was able to be by MJ's side as he was honored as a Ragin' Cajun.
"It meant all the world to me," Jefferson Sr. said. "For me to see him walk out on that field and say he left it all out on that field, I was the proudest person out there. I got a chance to walk with my kid after two bouts of cancer. I didn't think I would get to see that day."
Equally important for MJ was to have his dad, mom and brother by his side.
"My household is my rock. The majority of why I am doing what I am today is because without them, it wouldn't be possible," MJ said. "Without them, I wouldn't have the drive or motivation to still do it. There have been plenty of days where I thought about just not doing it but they've always been pushing me and telling me the stuff I am doing is special. There aren't too many people in our family that is doing well or making it. I am scrapping every day to make myself better."
And while MJ was celebrated for his success on the field, one final goal still remains: graduating college.
MJ is set to graduate next month with his degree and fulfill his promise to his dad.
"I never dreamed we would be in this situation. I never thought I would see him play college football, but my greatest moment is going to be when he gets that degree," his dad said. "I know I have done my job as a father to put him in a position to succeed in life. When I close my eyes I won't have to worry about him because he will be financially taken care of and he can take care of his family. He won't have to take care of this family because that's my job as long as I got breath in me. I never dreamed of seeing this and I'm still praying I will get to see it."
Whatever the future holds for Michael Jefferson II, his father will always be with him and by his side supporting him.
Just like he has done for his dad his whole life.
"I am proud to call him my son. He has done it the right way and stayed out of trouble. He deserves everything given to him because he was the one that did it. I am proud of him," Jefferson Sr. said.
