The Los Angeles Rams gave Cam Akers one of the most heartwarming presents of his life in the form of a message straight from his mother. The RB has had quite a ride to make his NFL debut and his mother Angela Neal Akers and father Conni Akers always made sure to put their son in the best position so that he may succeed one day.

Nothing is permanent and bad things shape you up for bigger responsibilities in life. That’s a lesson that Cam Akers learned early on in his childhood. Thanks to his mother, who is a breast cancer survivor. But even when she had her battles to fight, she made sure to maintain that selfless attitude so that she may watch her son touch the skies someday.

On a personal level, there isn’t much information available about Akers’ parents, but we will navigate through bits and pieces of his life to get an understanding about his growth and the role of his family. The funny thing about Akers’ career is that he wasn’t even a football player to begin with. His primary was baseball and basketball, but thanks to his father Conni, he pursued football and became of the most legendary high school running backs coming out of Clinton, Miss.

Akers was 11 when he saw his mother fighting stage 2 breast cancer and even then, he chose to stay strong because that’s what his mother taught him. “It just taught me to never complain,” said Akers and added, “Seeing my mom go through breast cancer — she’s a survivor now — but her going through breast cancer taught me there’s not much to complain about in life, seeing her fight and knowing it was for her children. She said that all the time. It made me a fighter.”

After spending 3 years at FSU, Akers was drafted by the Rams in 2020 and his mother couldn’t hide the excitement that was building up, even though her son was going to live far away from her. His mother had an “out-of-body experience” when she heard Roger Goodell call out her son’s name.

The Rams were honing her son, and that was perhaps the best return of time and efforts that she could have asked for. “It has been such a great experience to see the evolution of Cam Akers,” said his mother, Angela Neal. “The Rams are really working with him. The coaches are motivating him and staying on him, and you can see the progression week by week.”

“We tried to talk him out of it, like ‘Cam, isn’t that a little far?’” Neal said. “But he was like, ‘Yeah, I know, but that is one of my spots.’” But little did his parents know that moving to Los Angeles was about to be the next best thing for his career.

From high school to a Super Bowl, Cam’s parents stood by his side

For any parent, it would be surreal to watch their child win a Super Bowl in the second year of his professional career. Akers’ father was appalled when he said, “You know, there was talk about the Rams being front runner for the Super Bowl but I can assure you there was not a plan to go to the Super Bowl,” said Cam Akers’ father, Conni Akers. “We were kinda like, ‘When it happens we will just attack that when it comes.’”

The RB was a gifted child and his father knew it. In his father Conni Akers’ words, “He was just a little more advanced than most kids his age.” But even the special ones are prone to injuries. Luckily, he remembered his mother’s words when he suffered a chest rib separation in his rookie year.

“That was hard,” Angela Neal said. “I wanted to be on the first plane to L.A. and I was going into ‘This is my baby’ mode. But he was like, ‘No, ma, I am going to be fine.’” In 5 years of his career, Akers has taken on most intense injuries. He suffered from a chest rib separation, ankle sprains, ACL tears and shoulder injuries. But again, seeing his mother fight cancer meant that he could overcome anything in his life, and so he did.

The Rams were playing the Bucs and the RBs family travelled 900 miles to watch him play. That was his parents’ lucky day because they witnessed him score a touchdown. His mother joked, “I knew you were waiting for your mom to come so you could score your first touchdown.”

Cam Akers’ took the worst parts of his life and turned him into an advantage. Sheer will power can do wonders and Cam Akers is a prime example of that. He played his last season with the Vikings and suffered an ACL tear just 6 games in. The Texans recently signed him and hopefully, we’ll see him in his peak form.