Here is a post by Dan Pires on PatriotsPlanet:
Before a whole lot is made of Deion's statement to The Boston Globe, make sure to consider another mitigating circumstance [yes, this is for the Neanderthal element out there]. One of twin boys, Deiondré, is confined to a hospital in Kentucky and he's only functioning at about 75 percent. Here are two very good pieces on Branch's life and his children:
[link to a premium SI article that won't work anyway]
"Four years ago he nearly lost one of his newborn twin sons, Deiondre, to spinal meningitis. The baby was in a hospital being kept alive by machines. "I think [Deion] was having to decide whether it was time to unplug," says Bradley, when a "miracle" occurred. The infant suddenly responded to treatment.
On Sunday, Deiondre was chasing his brother, Deiontey, around a Super Bowl field of confetti. Now his father holds on tightly to anything that comes his way -- spirals and sons."
http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2006/01/07/for_branch_the_toughest_hurdle?mode=PF
For Branch, the toughest hurdle
Patriots star reflects on son's struggle
By Jackie MacMullan, Globe Staff | January 7, 2006
He only sees Deiondre and Deiontey, his twin sons born prematurely four years ago. He sees Deiondre hooked up to machines, battling meningitis, clinging to life as his tiny lungs strain to breathe. It is a memory he cannot -- will not -- erase.
''I was so young when it happened," said Branch Thursday afternoon in a private moment before preparations for New England's first-round playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars tonight at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. ''I was 21 years old. It was scary. I was trying to make sense of it."
Branch, talking publicly for the first time about his son's condition,
agreed to do so only on the condition that the specifics and the
timetable of his treatment was kept confidential. How do you make sense of two children so eagerly anticipated, born
within minutes of one another, one healthy, one who quickly became critically ill? Deion and Danyld Lynch, the children's mother, were overwhelmed with conflicting emotions. The joy of the births was soon trampled by the fear and uncertainty surrounding Deiondre's future. And yet, Deion quickly realized, their son was not alone. The hospital in Kentucky was teeming with sick infants.
''You walk through the ICU and you see these tiny little babies, just 2 and 3 pounds, with all these tubes sticking out of them," Branch said.
''It stays with you. There was this one little girl who weighed about 2 pounds 2 ounces. She was so small, and her tiny little heart was pumping so fast, trying to hang on . . . I don't know if she made it. I don't know if any of those kids made it."
Deiontey was lucky. Although he and his brother weighed 4 pounds 8 ounces at birth, he responded quickly to the special care afforded premature infants. Each day, he grew stronger, while his brother deteriorated. Meningitis is a cruel disease. It strikes silently, ferociously, without warning. The diagnosis was dire. Even if he lived, Deiondre had already suffered massive brain damage. The doctors told Deion and Danyld their son would likely never walk, talk, smile, laugh, cry, or even dream.
