TBO: Mom's battle gives USF's Giddins extra motivation

[Nebolsky]

TAMPA

By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune Published: August 31, 2012 Updated: August 31, 2012 - 7:38 AM

Every morning before he goes to college and college football, he stops at his mother's bedroom, whether she's awake or not, to kiss her and say goodbye. She usually sleeps late. Six rounds of chemotherapy have flattened her. The final round was last week.

I love you. Mom, if you need anything, call, OK?

"He's always going to be my baby boy," Sabrina Giddins says.

When he's working at his football inside the South Florida athletics building named for one of God's noblest creatures and pass rushers, Lee Roy Selmon, he'll sometimes pause in the lobby and stare at the wall reserved for USF sports All-Americans.

Ryne Giddins, former Armwood High star, now a USF junior defensive end, will linger at two former teammates and great USF defensive ends: George Selvie and Jason Pierre-Paul. I would love to be on that wall. When Giddins watches Pierre-Paul sack an offense to pieces for the New York Giants, he dreams his NFL dream.

"I want to be great," Giddins said. "I want it bad ."

It's time. He had 51/2 sacks last season, but was inconsistent, in practice and games. Giddins has shown flashes, but it's not enough. His coaches will tell him that if he wants to be great, he has to do it every day, practice or game. He is finally hearing them.

"Very few come in ready to play every down," USF coach Skip Holtz said. "(Ryne) has always had great plays, but it was always the plays he took off that stopped him from being the difference maker. But the way he's playing right now, I couldn't be more pleased with his motor, his engine, with his attitude …"

"I had the talent, but maybe not the motive," Giddins said. "I was just out there because I loved to play football. Now maybe I have mouths to feed, people I love who I want to take care of, maybe a chance to play on the next level."

He thought of his mom.

"I want to give her the world," he said.

He's a kid with a big heart and grin, so his world trembled last March. His parents told him they needed him at the house in Thonotosassa. "I knew something big had happened," Ryne said.

Sabrina had uterine cancer. She needed immediate surgery, then chemotherapy and radiation. Ryne kept telling himself: Don't cry, not in front of Mom.

"She's always been there for me, since Little League, high school, all my USF games," he said.

It isn't easy.

"I'm weak all the time," Sabrina said. "I take naps during the day. I feel like sometimes I'm going to pass out. My body aches. I get nauseous. I've lost all my hair. My nails have turned black. It's not a good feeling."

But Ryne is there. The youngest of the three Giddins children is the only one still at home. He's 22, but he hasn't lived anywhere else.

"Sometimes I see that smile of his and it's enough," Sabrina said. "It's a joyful face. You have to love him."

He thinks of all that pain she's in when he has to reach down in practice. He remembers what the doctors told his mom, that "she's a fighter."

He thinks of other pain. Giddins' sister, Giavanna, has battled epilepsy. Seizures have left her unable to work or even drive a car or even be left alone. She has had four brain surgeries.

"So when I see my mom and her smiling, that makes my day, that keeps me going," Ryne said.

Sabrina lost her job at a dental lab after her cancer diagnosis, and with it her health insurance. The medical bills are mountainous. And she can't attend her son's football games this season. It's her immune system, laid bare by chemo.

"I can't afford to be around people who are coughing and sneezing," Sabrina said. "It's too hot, and you can't bring your own water. Financially, I can't afford to be buying water out there. I told Ryne. He understands. He told me to do what I had to do."

He is out to do what he has to do, too, finally.

"He wants it," Holtz said.

"I think some of it had to do with my mom and my sister," Giddins said. "When I go out there, I think about it sometimes. It can put you in an emotional rage. It makes you go out and practice harder."

Sabrina Giddins begins radiation next month. She has her family and faith and her baby boy. She fainted during her first chemotherapy session, and Ryne raced from the USF campus to Moffitt Cancer Canter. He made sure to be with his mother for her other chemo rounds, him and his smile.

You OK, Mom?

Sabrina will watch the USF games on TV, plus NFL games Sunday, especially the Bucs. She imagines Ryne up front on an NFL defensive line, catching up with his dream.

"My son is going to be there soon," Sabrina said.

She said he's a fighter.

Wonder where that came from.

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2012/aug/31/5/fennelly-mom-gives-giddins-extra-motivation-ar-479301/

[dabulls34]

Hes going to be an absolute monster this year

[Triple B]

Columnists can be douchebags at times but they can also come up with great stuff like this .... except Bianchi ... he's a douchebag pretty much 24/7.

[Florida Bull]

Very touching story. I hope Ryne Giddins has not just a great season, but a nice school year.

Hopefully, as the football team finds success and helps improve USF's name recognizition, the university can continue developing its prestige in research and finding medical cures/improvements.

[DELdaBull]

Yup. Ryne Giddins gone after this season. I feel sorry for all quarterbacks. I am happy he is on my team.

Nothing motivates more than a sick mother. This is about to be a MONSTER defensive end season.

[deters-]

Many prayers and blessings to your mother Ryne. Good luck this season and in the future. Make your family and us Bulls proud

[E.T.]

My prayers to Mom Giddins

[GaUSFBull]

My prayers to Mom Giddins

+1

[snarling Bull]

Many prayers and blessings to your mother Ryne.

[Who'sYourData?]

Columnists can be douchebags at times but they can also come up with great stuff like this .... except Bianchi ... he's a douchebag pretty much 24/7.

Nope. Read and listen to him every day an you'll have a different opinion. It is the job of the columnist to get people talking. But they are people too.