One of the best calls of Peyton Manning‘s career just came after his playing days.
An elementary school teacher named Rhonda Jacobs has been a fan of Manning since his time at Tennessee. She followed his entire NFL career, and over time, she developed a desire to meet Manning one day.
That plan was put on hold this summer, though. In July, Rhodes was diagnosed with cancer, and she's been battling it ever since. To help cope with her treatments, Rhodes actually listens to old Peyton Manning press conferences to calm her down.
Her desire to speak with Peyton hasn't wavered since her diagnosis, and on Halloween, she received a huge surprise.
“I was driving home and ‘Unknown’ appeared on my phone,” Jacobs said. “I answered the phone and the person on the other line said, ‘This is Peyton Manning.’ I was speechless.”
Initially, Rhodes thought it was a practical Halloween joke. But, it didn't take long for her to recognize the voice she listens to while receiving treatments:
“After about two or three sentences, I knew that was his voice and I started freaking out. He did most of the talking and it was awesome,” Jacobs said.
Manning heard Rhodes' story through school nurse Nikki Seymour, who reached out to the PeyBack Foundation:
“I wrote the organization and explained that we are not kids, but you are not going to meet a bigger fan than her. Within 30 minutes, his agent, who works side-by side with Peyton, called me,” Seymour said. “Peyton wanted to do something special for Rhonda. It was amazing how quickly the organization responded to me.”
Jacobs said she and Manning talked for about five minutes.
“He said there will be dark days and I told him that I have already experienced some of those, but he said you just have to go through adversity and keep your faith strong,” she said.
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