Jennifer Graniel had no idea what was going to happen to her newborn baby boy.
Milo was born with Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), meaning he had a hole in one of the lower chambers of his heart. The doctors missed the defect during Jennifer's pregnancy, but discovered it the day Milo was born.
There were other complications, too. Milo's esophagus wasn't connected with his stomach, so he couldn't eat. And his aorta was pressing against a bronchial tube, which hindered his breathing.
Jennifer said one of the two most emotional days of her life was finding out her son would need multiple heart surgeries, the first when he was just seven months old.
The second?
The day Milo met Shaq Thompson.
Thompson is a linebacker for the Carolina Panthers, but in 2010 he was a local high school star in Sacramento, where he played for the Grant Union Pacers, who were solidifying themselves as a California powerhouse.
The Pacers, led by coach Mike Alberghini, were churning out Division I athletes who were top-notch people, too.
They were important to the community because of the example they set, Alberghini said last week.
"Our community is not economically high-based," he said. "We have a lot of kids that are one-parent families."
Enter Thompson, who was raised alongside three brothers by his mother, Patty, in a no-nonsense household. By his senior year, Thompson was the No. 1-ranked high school player in California by 247 Sports, and No. 4 nationally.
"I've been here for 48 years and I've coached all of Shaq's brothers," Alberghini said. "He was the last and he was, in my opinion, the best of all the boys. He went out of his way to be a good person to people, and when he could do something for someone, he would."
Without really knowing it, Thompson did something for Milo.
