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Listen: Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes Tackles Sickle Cell Disease

The Steeler legend - and Dad to a son with the disease - visits our podcast to talk about his foundation that helps families cope.

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T.J. Holmes flexes his muscles - inset photo of him as a baby with his parents Santonio and Nicole
Santonio “TJ” Holmes III, son of Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes, has lived with sickle cell disease since birth. Inset photo shows Santonio, Nicole King (TJ’s mom) and TJ as a baby.

Santonio Holmes is remembered for many things by football fans, including his “perfect catch” in Super Bowl XLIII, which earned him that game’s MVP trophy. But after retirement from football, Holmes is still working on building his legacy.

He’s doing so through the III & Long Foundation, an organization he established to help families affected by sickle cell disease. Holmes and his family are one of those families, as his son, TJ, lives with sickle cell disease.

On a new episode of the World of Promise podcast, Holmes, TJ, and TJ’s mom, Nicole King, talk about TJ’s experiences with sickle cell disease and how it affected their family. They talk about the disease from a caregivers’ perspective in honor of World Sickle Cell Day, which is on June 19.

Listen to the conversation by clicking the podcast player or searching “World of Promise” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other places where podcasts are available.