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The story behind Drew Brees' birthmark, and why he'll never get it removed

It's important to him to teach kids there's nothing wrong with being different.

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File:Drew Brees 2015.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

(This story originally appeared on 8.13.15. It has been updated)


Drew Brees never did look like your typical NFL quarterback.

Though Brees is retired now, the former New Orleans Saint was listed at a generous 6 feet tall, 209 pounds in his playing days, while the average height of a pro quarterback is more like 6'3".

He also has a pretty big birthmark placed prominently over his right cheek.


Drew Brees wearing a suit and smilingFile:Drew Brees (49396271982) (1).jpg - Wikipediaen.m.wikipedia.org

What happened to Drew Brees' face?

Nothing at all!

To set the record straight, the mark on Drew Brees' face is indeed a birthmark and not a scar or burn mark. It's been there his whole life.

Still, it's easy to see why fans might ask the question. It can be hard for people to wrap their heads around a celebrity having such a glaringly obvious "imperfection." In fact, the first time Oprah met Drew in person, she thought his birthmark was a lipstick smudge and tried to wipe it off.

Awkward!

Drew was selected to 13 Pro Bowls, led the league in passing yards seven times, and, of course, was named MVP of Super Bowl XLIV in 2010. He retired in 2021 as one of the most decorated athletes to ever play the sport, and has since had stints as a commentator and coach at his alma mater of Purdue.

But long before he was an NFL superstar and worldwide celeb, he was just a kid who got made fun of for being different.


"Because of my birthmark, which I was obviously born with, I got all kinds of comments when I was a kid, about 'Wipe that whatever off your face.' ... All kinds of names. People would call me 'Spot,'" Drew told CNN.

"I think they were trying to be malicious. They were trying to be hurtful."

When he grew up and found his way to fame and fortune, he had a choice: have the birthmark removed or use it to send a message.

Drew Brees has, to put it bluntly ... a lot of freaking money.

Over the course of his illustrious career, he signed multiple lucrative contracts and most years he earned upwards of $20 million per season.

There's no question he could pay for the plastic surgery to have that birthmark removed for good and have plenty of money leftover to enjoy his recovery in a five-star resort on Neptune, if he wanted.

But for Drew, this option never even crossed his mind.

In his book, "Coming Back Stronger," he writes: "Instead of seeing it as a bad thing, I chose to see it as something that made me unique and special. It set me apart from everyone else. ... Now it's just a part of who I am. I wouldn't consider cutting off my arm. Neither would I cut off my birthmark."

As his career blossomed, Drew began using his platform to tell kids like him that they don't need to be ashamed of who they are.

"There's lots of kids that may have something that somebody is going to make fun of. Their name, the way they look, the way they talk, the way they laugh. And it's so unfair, but it's reality," he said during his interview with CNN.

And in 2010, he teamed up with the It Gets Better movement to put out a message.

"Making fun of someone because they're different from you? That's not being tough, it's being ignorant," he said. "I want my fans to know that if you're making fun of someone ... then you are no friend of mine."

In Brees' heyday, fans would attend Saints games with fake birthmarks — sometimes stickers, sometimes temporary tattoos, sometimes eye black — on their faces to show their quarterback some love.

Life is pretty good as one of the NFL's most revered legends. But every time Drew takes the field or shows up on TV, he's showing kids all over the world that being different is good — and not only will it not hold you back from achieving whatever you want, it might even help you get there.

And as for whether he'll ever change his mind and have the mark removed?

He told TMZ, "As long as there's no health issues with it, then it stays."

Right on, Drew. Right on.

Here's Drew on CNN talking about the birthmark, dealing with his bullies, and how he used it as motivation to become great:

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Joy

Bob Ross once shared the joy of painting to a colorblind viewer using only black and white

"Let your imagination just wander around while you're doing these things."

Video pulled from YouTube video.

Bob Ross paints for a colorblind fan.

The soft sound of slow-moving water down a creek. The smell of fresh coffee roasting in the morning. A thick blanket resting across your lap during the first snowfall of winter.

Sure, you might find these things soothing. But none of them — none of them — compares to watching (and listening to) Bob Ross paint.


In case you've never experienced Ross, he's that "soft spoken guy painting happy clouds, mountains, and trees in about 26 television minutes," as his website explains. And if you think that sounds boring, well, you're wrong. It's one magical half-hour of television euphoria. End of discussion.

Ross died back in 1995 (rest in peace, Bob), but you can still catch his show, "The Joy of Painting," on TV from time-to-time (or you can binge watch it on YouTube after a rough day at work). His website claims it's the "most recognized, most watched TV art show in history." And who could argue with that? No one. No one, I tell you.

Although it's been more than two decades since Ross' show was canceled, one episode recently resurfaced online.

An especially old one — episode four of season two — made its way onto the front page of Reddit on Sept. 1, 2015. It begins like any other: Ross smiling brightly next to a blank canvas, ready to take us on an endorphin-filled visual journey.

But then, plot twist, as Ross explains, this episode won't be quite as colorful as the others...

"Anyone can paint." (I wish he could give me Monday morning pep talks every week.)

In case you want to print out that quote and hang it on your wall or something (we could all use a little more Bob-spiration, after all), here it is in its entirety:

"Just recently I was doing a demonstration in a mall, and I had a man come to me and he said, 'Bob, I could never paint because I'm colorblind. All I can see is gray tones.' So I thought today we'd do a picture in gray just to show you that anyone can paint."
50 shades of gray, master painter, Bob Ross, soothing voice

Ross shares his joy through his painting.

Image pulled from YouTube video.

Ross had a wonderful habit of reminding viewers that art is for everyone.

While his talents were extraordinary, Ross never made viewers feel like they couldn't create their own beautiful works of art, too.

The colorblind fan could have had achromatopsia — a condition that affects roughly 1 in every 33,000 Americans by limiting their vision to see only in grayscale. But Ross was determined to make painting — an activity seemingly dependent on color — an accessible art form for him: "Any color will work, as long as you use the basic method."

In the episode, Ross goes on to paint his own version of 50 shades of gray, masterfully creating rocky mountains behind a wintry sky.

As Ross explains, he only used various hues of browns and blues mixed together (which end up coming through as various grays), along with white.

“Isn't that fantastic? That you can make whole mountains in minutes? And you can do it. There's no big secret to it. All you need is a dream in your heart."

Bob Ross was incredible.

Not only at painting (and assuring me with that soothing voice that the world is a wonderful place), but at helping everyone feel good about themselves and their own abilities. Thank you, Bob.

Check out the whole episode below:

This article originally appeared on 09.01.15


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Family

Five heroic stories of people who rescued a kidnapped child just in the nick of time

These are so frightening and so inspiring.

Photo from Pixaba7

Having the courage to report to the police when things appear off.

When you see or hear an Amber Alert, what do you usually do?

Sometimes it's the middle of the night, and the buzz of your cell phone stirs you out of a deep sleep before you can silence it. Other times, the alert interrupts your favorite song on the radio. Maybe you wait patiently for it to end. Maybe you change the station.

After all, who hasn't wondered, "What are the odds?"

Sure, the alerts are heartbreaking, but what are the odds you'll bump into the missing kid? What are the odds you'll see the getaway car? What are the odds you'll be able to do anything about it? Turns out, better than you think.

Here are five stories of people who suddenly found themselves face to face with a kidnapped child ... and rose to the occasion.

High intensity situations require calm nerves and quick thinking. Kudos to these people for noticing the Amber Alerts at the right time and, in some cases, for having the courage to act right then and there.

1) 2-year-old Ronnie Tran was found when his baby sitter, John Tuong, saw an Amber Alert ... for Ronnie.

John Tuong had no idea he was baby-sitting a missing kid.

Ronnie was kidnapped by his 65-year-old maternal grandmother, who, along with an accomplice, had attacked and restrained his mother. She left Ronnie with a family friend, John Tuong, who merely thought he was baby-sitting his sister's boyfriend's son.

Tuong saw an Amber Alert on his phone the next morning and realized the kid in the alert was actually asleep in the next room. John called the police immediately and Ronnie made it home safe.

2) 6-year-old Kloe was taken from her bed on February 21, 2015. Thanks to a gas station employee, she was back home on February 22.

Kloe was abducted in the middle of the night by a family friend. After she was reported missing, an Amber Alert went out, which, luckily, was seen by a clerk at a local gas station. The clerk recognized Kloe from the alert and tipped off police that he had seen the girl, the man who had taken her, and the van he was driving.

The clerk's account helped police narrow their search, and Carlin was eventually stopped on the interstate by a trooper, some 300 miles from Kloe's home, and taken into custody.

Kloe made it home to her family safe and sound the next day.

3) Leah and Jordan's kidnappers' RV broke down. The cops that pulled over to help had just seen the Amber Alert.

Amber Alerts aren't just for bystanders, they're for law enforcement too.

After 3-year-old Leah and 4-year-old Jordan were taken by relatives of their mother, the kidnapper's RV broke down on the side of the highway. Two deputies stopped by the vehicle to try to help them get back on the road. Luckily, the deputies had seen the Amber Alert and recognized the kids inside the vehicle.

Both made it back home safely the next day, but who knows what might have happened had the RV not broken down or if the cops weren't on the lookout for the missing kids.

4) A stranger stole a car with 3-year-old Bella inside. Later, a quick-thinking bystander physically pulled her to safety.

Leslie and Bella pose inside her bakery, Mini Cupcakes. Photo courtesy of Leslie Fiet, used with permission.

A strange woman asked to bum a cigarette from Bella's father as he walked into the 7-Eleven convenience store. He gave it to her. Then, the woman jumped in the car, with Bella still inside, and drove off.

Later on, the owner of a local cupcake bakery, Leslie Fiet, spotted the car after seeing the Amber Alert and she heroically pulled Bella from the backseat.

"My initial thought was to call 911 (when I discovered the car) but then I looked closer and saw Bella was in a tremendous amount of stress, hyperventilating and crying," Fiet told ABC News. "I just dropped my phone and ran out the door."

She locked Bella, and herself, inside the bakery until Bella's parents and police could arrive.

5) A pizza shop employee on her break spotted 7-year-old Nicolas and followed his kidnapper until police could arrive.

Courtney was brave to follow the kidnapper; and it paid off. Photo courtesy of KRIS TV.

Courtney Best, who was working at a small pizza shop in Corpus Christi, Texas, saw an Amber Alert on her phone while on her smoke break. She looked up and just happened to see the vehicle in question, a white Dodge Avenger, sitting in the parking lot in front of her with a child inside.

She followed the car, while on the phone with police, as it drove away.

"Cause, what are the odds? What are the odds of me looking at my phone?" Courtney told KrisTV. "And I usually don't even look at Amber Alerts, as bad as that sounds. I look at them and I don't really pay attention."

Thanks to her quick thinking, the police were able to recover Nicolas and return him safely to his family.

According to Robert Hoever of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, about 95% of Amber Alerts are resolved within 72 hours.

Robert, who is Director of Special Programs at the NCEMC, told Upworthy, "You can definitely see a huge change in how fast children are recovered today. The technology out there today helps."

In addition to wireless alerts, his organization also partners to issue alerts via Internet service providers, search engines, Internet ad exchanges, and even digital billboards.

And, Robert adds, if you ever find yourself in a situation like this, with any sort of information about a missing child, call 911 before you do anything. Emergency personnel will be able to help you navigate the situation.

We see a lot of Amber Alerts go viral, which is great, but we don't often get to see the happy endings.

Sadly, not every Amber Alert ends with a reunion. But the more we share these alerts with our networks, the more people they reach and the more likely they are to be seen by the right people.

In the meantime, it's comforting to know that most of these kids eventually make it home safely.


This article originally appeared on 08.10.15

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Temple Grandin explains how folks with autism literally see the world in a different way

Autism is still not very well understood, although research — as well as the number of people diagnosed on the autism spectrum — has been increasing.

Image from YouTube video.

Temple Grandin takes the stage for a Ted talk about Autism.

Temple Grandin spent her early life, as she says, "goofing off" until a science teacher made her brain light up.

She was born with autism during the 1940s, when people didn't understand it well.

But Grandin has done a lot since those days of goofing off.

She became a professor of animal science at Colorado State University, a best-selling author, a consultant to the livestock industry, and a popular public speaker.

HBO made an award-winning movie about her life, which millions of people saw. (When she talks about "the movie" in the TED Talk below, that's what she's referring to.)

You can watch "Temple Grandin" on HBO or Amazon.

Her main work now is to educate people on how she, like many people with autism and Asperger's, sees things in pictures.

She even suggests that some people in places like Silicon Valley may be on the autism spectrum or they wouldn't have been able to do what they've done.

Grandin really does think almost completely in images.

As she describes it, when you say "steeple," her mind goes to the first image she knows is a steeple from her childhood church. Then, to the next one.

Kinda like Google Images does, right?

Autism is still not very well understood, although research — as well as the number of people diagnosed on the autism spectrum — has been increasing.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the prevalence of autism spectrum diagnoses has drastically increased since 1970. And Temple was born 28 years before this graph's earliest date.

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A graph illustrating the increasing numbers of people born with Autism.

Image via The Fullerton Informer.

And no, vaccinations do not cause autism. Science has proven otherwise, so please do not take away from this anything that's purely fiction.

But there are some things we do know.

Some of them are included in Grandin's TED Talk.

She has some great suggestions for ways to help those on the autism spectrum, too, like these:

  • Educators and parents need to find ways to get people on the spectrum to be engaged and thrilled to be using their unique brains the way they need to in order to make a difference in the world.
  • Understand their reality. She was a "different" kid and adult. She made it work because she found her place and made other humans understand that she didn't function the way that they do. What if we approached other humans on a regular basis with this understanding and empathy? What a wonderful world it would be, indeed.
  • Get to know a family with kids who are differently abled than the rest of us. See what their world is like, and maybe make them feel loved — or at least understood a little better.
  • Spread the word — when you see her movie or TED Talk, pass it around. It's a great place to start a conversation.

This article originally appeared on 07.21.15

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