New England Patriot Dont’a Hightower Named Week 17 NFLPA Community MVP

Editor’s Note: The NFLPA Community MVP recognizes players who are making a positive impact in their local communities. Each week, the NFLPA celebrates one player who recently demonstrated his commitment to giving back and will make a donation to the player’s foundation or cause in support. This week’s #CommunityMVP is New England Patriot Dont’a Hightower, who threw a Monday Night Football watch party to benefit the American Diabetes Association.

Dont’a Hightower has plenty to celebrate heading into 2016. His alma mater, Alabama, is on its way to the College Football Championship game, and the New England Patriots have clinched a first-round bye in the AFC playoffs.

But before ringing in the New Year, the Super Bowl Champion linebacker ensured that he made an impact on a cause very close to his heart.

Hightower hosted a Monday Night Football watch party on December 28 at CBS Scene at Patriot Place. His first official charity event benefited the American Diabetes Association.

Hightower’s mother, L’Tanya, was diagnosed with diabetes in 2015, and the 25-year-old Tennessee native and his younger sister Quenette have rallied around the matriarch. Hightower says that they are working hard to not only become educated about the disease but also use his platform as an NFL player to raise awareness and funds to combat it.

“I’m still learning a lot about it,” Hightower told the Boston Herald. “It’s a lot more complex than I originally thought it was to have diabetes. You think maybe it’s just eating less or working out a bit more, but there’s a lot more to it. Knowing the daily struggles that my mom goes through, it gives me even more strength and power to come to work and do what I can to try to help raise more awareness about diabetes.”A Family Affair

Hightower has a special bond with his mother, so while the recent diagnosis was the spark behind the event, diabetes is not a new issue for the family. His grandmother and aunt also have the disease.

L’Tanya Hightower worked long shifts on assembly lines for 20 years. When the linebacker was asked about how he stayed motivated to come back from a season-ending knee injury while in college, his answer was simple.

“My mother,” he told USA Today. “She worked in that factory and didn't complain. I knew that was hard work, but she did it for me and my sister.”

After she became unable to meet the intense physical demands of the profession, L’Tanya went back to school to become a medical assistant, and her work ethic clearly rubbed off on her son.

“My dream has always been to get to the point in football to where she doesn't have to work in a factory anymore,” Hightower told the Marshall County Tribune. “I wouldn't be in this situation today if it wasn't for my mom and my sister (Quenette) being my backbone. The reason that I do what I do is because of them, to take care of my family.”

Teaming Up For a Great Cause

The 200 attendees at the watch party were treated to games and raffle prizes as well as great food and drink. They also got face time, photos and autographs courtesy of some of their favorite Patriots players at an event that Hightower hopes to make annual.

Julian Edelman, Jerod Mayo, Chandler Jones, Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung, Tavon Wilson, Jamie Collins and others were on hand to support Hightower and the American Diabetes Association. Event sponsors included Bob's Discount Furniture, New England Patriots Charitable Foundation, SUJA Juice and Getaway2Give.

Local Hero

While his mother may be his role model, Hightower also remembers the hometown that helped shape him. Over the Fourth of July weekend in 2015, he returned to Lewisburg, Tennessee and presented the local Pee Wee Football team with new equipment, including 90 sets of shoulder pads. He also helped the town pay for its holiday fireworks celebration, which in recent years had been canceled due to lack of funding.

“I've always known I wanted to do something for Lewisburg, and this was the right time and opportunity to give back to the community that gave me so much,” said Hightower.

In gratitude to his continued support, the rural city named a street after him, and Dont'a Hightower Parkway opened in July.

“I couldn't ask for anything more from it, starting out small to now,” he told ESPN. “God has given me all the valuable resources to do it, given me a great mom and sister, a great family.”

For more information about the NFLPA Community MVP program, visit: here.

You can follow Dont’a Hightower on Twitter and Instagram.

###