C.J. Ham was struck by a dual crisis.
It was May 2020 when pancreatic cancer forced his mother into hospice care for the final 10 days of her life — a painful concession to a devastating diagnosis for a family that had clung to hope through prayer.
Ham, a Pro Bowl fullback for the Minnesota Vikings, felt helpless as 57-year-old Tina withered in a Duluth hospital bed.
But anger complicated Ham's grief; his mother's time in hospice coincided with the police murder of George Floyd. As a Black man, he felt sharp pain over the injustice.