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By NewOrleansSaints.com

McKenna's story - he was paralyzed from a cycling accident in 2015 - became public when his friend Jackson Smith wrote an op-ed piece for The Washington Post titled, "How Drew Brees helped me and a friend get through war and heartache." In it, Smith details how Smith elevated his spirits while he was serving in Afghanistan by sending a photo of a cutout version of Smith posing with Brees and his wife Brittany following the Bacchus parade. Smith returned the favor folliowing McKenna's accident by getting Brees to pose with a cutout of McKenna following a Saints game. You can read the entire story here but the section below gets to the heart of it:

"And so he had done it again. For the second time Drew Brees had shown up to bring some measure of hope and good will to a person at their lowest point. I don’t think he knows the magnitude of what he has done for me or for my best friend. I wouldn’t expect him to, as he has affected so many thousands of people in the same way. His impact on the city of New Orleans has been discussed in many forums, but it cannot be exaggerated. He has embraced his role as a symbol of hope, and he carries that burden every day with the grace and selflessness that have made him my city’s favorite son.

Full Article -- NewOrleansSaints.com