Super Bowl Champ Derick Hall Turns 1% Survival Chances Into NICU Advocacy
Discover how Super Bowl champ Derick Hall turned a 1% survival chance into powerful advocacy for Black NICU families in a new campaign with Huggies.
NFL Super Bowl champions DerickHall Huggies Seattle Seahawks linebacker and Super Bowl champion Derick Hall is known as one of the toughest, most resilient players in the NFL. But long before he was delivering punishing tackles on Sundays, Derick was fighting a much quieter, yet infinitely more perilous, battle. Hall was born prematurely, weighing just 2 pounds, 9 ounces, and was given a 1% chance of survival.
In his fragile beginning spent in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), his mother, Stacy Gooden-Crandle, saw something profound—a fighter. Derick’s journey is more than an inspiring sports narrative; it is a poignant reflection of a reality that disproportionately impacts Black families across the country. NFL Super Bowl champions DerickHall And mother Stacy Gooden-Crandle Huggies The Reality of the NICU and Black Maternal Health Each year, hundreds of mothers across the country experience the same uncertainty Stacy faced in the NICU.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 1 in 10 infants (9. 8%) were admitted to a NICU in 2023. The data surrounding premature birth rates in the U.
S. highlights a stark racial disparity. The March of Dimes 2025 Report Card notes that the national preterm birth rate stands at 10.