Jerome Harrison: Why a Lone Trade May Just Have Saved a Life

Yesterday, Jerome Harrison found out that he was traded back to his former Philadelphia Eagles. Today, he found out the he is in a fight for his life. Lions running back Jerome Harrison was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles, in exchange for running back Ronnie Brown, pending a physical.

The trade was initiated in order to bring some sort of stability to the Lions damaged running attack. A seldom used player during the season, Harrison was traded to his former team, the Eagles.

Earlier this morning, news regarding the trade became public. The trade between the Lions and Eagles was nullified due to a failed physical. Shortly thereafter, some shocking, sad and good news arose.

The trade swapping one running back for another was voided because the physical found a brain tumor in Harrison's brain, immediately ending his 2011 NFL campaign. Fortunately, the life prognosis for Harrison looks good, thanks to a trade that could very well have saved his life.

As tweeted by ESPN's Adam Schefter,

"Without trade, Jerome Harrison doesn't get physical. Without physical, doctors don't find brain tumor. Trade might have saved his life."

This couldn't have been said any better.

The interesting thing is that after hearing of his being traded to the Detroit Lions, Brown expressed how excited he was to come to Detroit to play for the Lions. Following the news of the cancelled trade, but prior to the public knowledge of the tumor, Brown sent a text to the Detroit Free Press stating that he was at "a loss for words."

For now and for the foreseeable future, Harrison won't be on the Lions active roster. It will be interesting to hear of his progress in the future and to see if he can make an enormous recovery back onto the gridiron. Who would have thought that a trade would save a life?