Like plenty of boys from Texas, Case dreamed of playing big-time college football one day. Unfortunately Case wasn’t like most other boys. That didn’t stop Case from dreaming.
At the age of four, Case was diagnosed with a form of the rare disease scleroderma. The type of scleroderma, a disease that involves the hardening of the skin and tightening of connective tissues, Case was diagnosed with, morphea, is usually found in adults not pediatric patients.
The first few rounds of treatments on what became a regular trip from West Texas to Dallas for Case, his father Brad and mother Debra, didn’t slow the disease. And the side effects were brutal as Case started losing weight, didn’t want to eat and started losing his hair. Eight more months of weekly shots administered by Brad on Wednesday nights after church caused Case to get violently sick and nauseous every time.
In 2004, eight years after his diagnosis, Case was told his battle with a rare disease was finally over. Shortly after being told he didn’t need those shots anymore, 12-year-old Case, who went on to become the starting quarterback for the Texas Longhorns in 2013, was watching ESPN Gameday one Saturday morning. After seeing one of those inspirational stories that has become part of the package for the lead-up to college football Saturday, Case turned to his Dad and told him one day he was going to have a story to share.
