<\/p>\nSam Acho joined his parents\u2019 medical mission as a teenager<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Acho grew up in Dallas, Texas, but his family\u2019s connection to Nigeria remained strong. His parents had spent years working to improve access to healthcare in the country, returning regularly to provide free treatment to people who struggled to find medical help.Their work was organised through Living Hope Christian Ministries, founded by Acho\u2019s father, Dr. Sonny Acho. The medical missions brought healthcare professionals to communities where local facilities often lacked basic resources. Doctors, nurses and other volunteers treated patients during visits that typically lasted around two weeks.Acho joined his parents on a medical mission as a teenager. He was not there as a doctor. Instead, he helped with tasks such as crowd control and guiding patients through the treatment process. Seeing the conditions firsthand gave him a better understanding of the work his parents had taken on.In a 2023 interview with the University of Texas at Austin, Acho recalled the makeshift facilities where the medical teams worked.\u201cThey\u2019d go to these \u2018hospitals\u2019 \u2014 I use quotes because they were really just abandoned buildings in the village \u2014 and they\u2019d give out free medical care,\u201d Acho said.The teams treated thousands of people during their visits, but the need for healthcare continued after they left. Patients could receive help while the volunteers were in the country, yet many had nowhere reliable to turn for further treatment once the mission ended.Acho\u2019s father wanted to find a lasting solution. His vision was to build a permanent medical center that could provide care throughout the year. The family had spent years travelling to Nigeria and treating patients during short visits. A hospital would allow that work to continue between missions.\u201cThis was the dream and vision of my dad,\u201d Acho said. \u201cWe\u2019d go for two weeks and treat as many people as we could \u2014 thousands of people. But we would leave, and people still needed help.\u201dThe family began pursuing the hospital project in 2016. Building a permanent facility required significant funding, and the family continued looking for ways to support the work. Acho\u2019s NFL career soon gave him an opportunity to contribute through charitable donations associated with his award nominations.<\/p>\n Sam Acho\u2019s two NFL award nominations brought $100,000 for the hospital<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Acho played college football at the University of Texas before entering the NFL. The Arizona Cardinals selected him in the fourth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He later played for the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers while continuing to support his family\u2019s charitable work.His community involvement earned him two nominations for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. The award recognises players for their work off the field alongside their achievements in football. Acho was the Chicago Bears\u2019 nominee in both 2016 and 2017.Each nomination came with a $50,000 charitable donation. Acho directed both donations to Living Hope Christian Ministries, bringing the total to $100,000 for the hospital project.The first donation arrived just months after the family had decided to move ahead with construction. Acho recalled his reaction when he learned that the money could go directly toward the project.\u201cWhen did I get nominated for this award?\u201d Acho recalled asking. \u201cIt was just months after we said \u2018Let\u2019s build.\u2019 So that $50,000 went straight to Living Hope Christian Ministries, which went straight to the hospital.\u201dHis second nomination in 2017 brought another $50,000 donation. Together, the two contributions gave the family $100,000 to help move the hospital project forward.The money was part of a wider fundraising effort rather than the only source of support. Acho and his family also received help from people in the football community and supporters connected to the University of Texas. Fundraising events, including a celebrity waiter event that raised $60,000 in 2016, also helped the project.The Living Hope Medical Center opened in June 2017. The facility gave patients a permanent place to seek medical care and helped the family move beyond the limits of its annual medical missions. Instead of relying only on visiting teams, the community now had access to a medical center throughout the year.The opening marked a major step for a project that had grown out of the family\u2019s work since 1989. Acho\u2019s parents had spent years providing care during short visits, and the hospital offered a way to continue that service after volunteers returned home.Reflecting on what the project had achieved, Acho said, \u201cIt\u2019s just been amazing to see.\u201d He also spoke about how one person\u2019s belief and action could make a difference beyond their immediate community.In Acho\u2019s case, the hospital was a way to support a mission his parents had started long before his NFL career. His two award nominations brought $100,000 in charitable donations toward the facility, while years of medical missions and wider fundraising helped make the project possible.The Living Hope Medical Center gave the family\u2019s work a permanent base in Nigeria. What began as an effort to provide free treatment during annual visits eventually grew into a healthcare facility serving patients throughout the year.<\/div>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Acho\u2019s NFL honors helped his family raise $100,000 for a Nigerian hospital(Getty) Sam Acho\u2019s family began providing free medical care in Nigeria in 1989. His parents, Dr. Sonny Acho and Christie Acho, wanted to help people who had limited access to healthcare. Their annual medical missions treated thousands of patients, but the teams could…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saharanews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"In](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-135167912,imgsize-97514,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/sam-acho.jpg\" "\\"Sam")
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