Thomas Morstead presents donation to Children’s Hospitals Minnesota

On Friday, New Orleans Saints punter Thomas Morstead did exactly what he said he was going to do.

After a huge outpouring of generosity from Minnesota Vikings’ fans following Morstead’s gutty performance in the NFC Divisional Playoff game at U.S. Bank Stadium, he made his way to the Twin Cities on Friday and presented a huge check to the folks from Children’s Hospital Minnesota to give to their “Child Life” program.

Literally. . .if you go to the story from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, they had one of those huge cardboard checks made up and everything. It also happened to have a huge amount of money on it.

When all was said and done, the amount of donations raised was $221,143. That can do a whole lot of good for a whole lot of kids.

All of this started when it was revealed that Morstead suffered what was thought to be a broken rib when he tackled Marcus Sherels on a punt return in the first quarter of the divisional playoffs. Morstead, despite being in obvious pain, continued to go out and punt and hold for field goals and extra points. After the game, Vikings’ fans began donating to Morstead’s charity, What You Give Will Grow, a charity that focuses on the battle against pediatric cancer.

When the donations got to $25,000, Morstead said that he would personally fly to Minnesota to present the check if the donations got over $100,000. When the campaign came to an end, it was nearly double that figure, and Morstead kept his promise by heading to the Twin Cities.

Sherels was at the presentation as well, which was fitting. After all, if Sherels hadn’t almost broken that first punt return and forced Morstead to make the stop, none of this would have happened.

While he was up in Minnesota, Morstead also met with a fourth-grade class from Adam Thielen’s home down of Detroit Lakes at the NFL Experience. . .and, yes, a Sköl chant was had.

(Public service announcement: Turn your phones, folks.)

This was the conclusion of what turned out to be a really great story. Kudos to Thomas Morstead for doing a ton of good for the Children’s Hospital of Minnesota.

Here’s hoping that his ribs don’t hurt anymore, either.