Picture this: It’s a crisp Sunday afternoon. The smell of tailgate grills filled the air. On TV, the Seahawks are battling for playoff glory. For most fans, it’s just another game. But for Charissa Thompson, FOX’s dynamic NFL host, football became a lifeline during one of her family’s darkest chapters.

Rewind to 1983. The Seahawks’ “Ground Chuck” era had just begun, blending power runs with daring passes. Fast-forward 40 years, and that same team would spark hope for a little girl fighting a brain tumor. Sports, as Thompson knows, aren’t just games. They’re therapy, escape, and magic.

In 2014, Thompson’s niece, Alyssa, then 12, faced a brutal setback. A brain tumor, first diagnosed at six (around the year 2008), required another surgery. Thompson shaved her head in solidarity, posting a viral Instagram photo: “We’re in this together.” But this was 2014. At the tender age of six, the real support for Alyssa came from places one wouldn’t expect. The real heroes?

Alyssa’s twin obsessions—Seahawks football and Dancing With the Stars. “When she was six and she was at children’s hospital, the thing that she would get excited about, two things: watching the Seahawks on Sunday and Taylor Swift. So her whole thing was like. As soon as she got out of the hospital, we went to a Taylor Swift concert, and there was like nothing like her. Her head shaved… and the other one, she wanted to see Aaron (Carter) at dancing with the stars.” Thompson shared on her Calm Down podcast. Undoubtedly, the little one is nothing less than a superhero, bravely battling the toughest illness.

When Alyssa left the hospital, Carter arranged front-row tickets. “Aaron made it happen. And she got a front-row seat and it was amazing. So just that idea, sparkles and spray; five, six, seven, eight,” Thompson recalled. “Sports is the great unifier. It brings people together.” Thompson’s story mirrors NFL lineman Tristan Wirfs’s own awakening.

Drafted by the Buccaneers in 2020, he once tossed a Nerf football with a burned 10-year-old boy. “His mom was like, he hasn’t smiled in weeks,” Wirfs told Thompson. “He might’ve been 10. But their house had burned down, and he ran inside to get… to save his little sister. And he was burnt head to toe.” For Alyssa, the Seahawks’ 2013 Super Bowl run was a beacon. When Russell Wilson scrambled or Marshawn Lynch “beast moded,” Alyssa forgot IV drips and MRIs. She just cheered.

Years later, another superstar stepped in.

When the lights shine brightest: Charissa Thompson’s fight beyond the field

In 2024, Taylor Swift visited a children’s hospital, hugging kids like Alyssa. Thompson posted a tearful Instagram story: “My niece has sat right here at a children’s hospital fighting a brain tumor and to think what Taylor meant to her then & now makes me 🥹❤️ TS & TK 🙏🏼.” Swift, whose mom also battled a brain tumor, understands this pain.

It’s a full-circle moment. In 2009, Aaron Carter’s DWTS jive lit up Alyssa’s world. In 2024, Swift’s kindness did the same. Sports and music—they truly are the great unifiers. No filthy politics. No divisions. Just joy, as Thompson suggested. Besides, Charissa Thompson’s journey isn’t about touchdowns or Mirrorball Trophies.

It’s about a niece’s resilience, a family’s love, and the moments that stitch us together. As author Maya Angelou once wrote, “People will forget what you said, but never how you made them feel.”

For Alyssa, the Seahawks’ roar, Carter’s cha-cha, and Swift’s hug weren’t just moments—they were lifelines. And for the rest of us? They’re reminders: Even in life’s hardest quarters, hope finds a way to score.