Michael Rothstein, ESPN staff writer
FLOWLEY BRANCH, Ga. — The gym was filled with chaos after Chris Lindstrom, a player at Sheppard Hill Regional High School in Dudley, Mass., fouled out during a sophomore basketball game. silence.
Then a voice sounded.
“My mom stood up and said, ‘Christopher, stop taking his stuff and kick your fucking ass,'” said Lindstrom’s brother Alec. “Screaming in a completely silent gym. Then the gym erupted.
“Everyone went crazy.”
Lindstrom, now an All-Pro linebacker with the Atlanta Falcons, was shocked but laughed about what has become a core memory. Dawn Lindstrom couldn’t help it. Her son was fouled and she wanted to make sure he knew that was unacceptable.
This is Dawn, the ultimate cheerleader and friendly mom—unless you wrong one of her children. She then made it clear that she and they would not accept it. She was the focal point of the family, immersed in the games her children played—from soccer to basketball to volleyball. She is the wife, sister-in-law and mother of an NFL player.
She is an inspiration and her memory suffers this time of year. Dawn died of ovarian cancer on December 21, 2021. While the Lindstrom family is filled with past and present football players, Dawn was instrumental in helping guide Chris on a career path that made him the NFL’s highest-paid defender.
“You’re reminded of the feeling we all have,” Lindstrom said. “You get that feeling of remembering. You definitely feel sad.
“But in the same sense, you just appreciate the time we spend together.”
Lindstrom’s father, Chris SR.played three NFL seasons, and his uncle Eric played eight years. Chris Jr. wanted to follow in those footsteps, but there was a time when he couldn’t play at all.
Lindstrom suffered from hydronephrosis, essentially swelling of the kidneys, and doctors initially refused to allow him to participate in football games. Lindstrom understood it—didn’t like it, but he got it. Every year, Lindstrom and Dawn went to a nephrologist for checkups, hoping for different results. In sixth grade, at the end of his appointment, Lindstrom asked the same question he always asked: “Can I play football?”
He thought he would get the same answer. Another year without football. Instead, doctors said an ultrasound showed his kidneys were strong enough for him to participate.
“That day, when I was told I could play, it was one of the few times I cried with happiness,” Lindstrom said.
It’s a combination of joy and relief, but it also comes with some caveats. When Lindstrom plays baseball, he wears the equivalent of a quarterback’s rib protector to protect his kidneys.
In football, they need different solutions. Lindstrom and his parents found a small black pad to cover his kidneys — which he joked didn’t look good because it covered his handlebars — to provide the needed extra protection. .
He had forgotten once earlier. His father noticed and pulled him off the field during a baseball game. The message is clear: no protection, no play.
“It’s non-negotiable,” Chris Sr. said. “You have to take care of it.”
Every day in the Falcons’ locker room, it’s there: a little pad, just above his kidney. Now, it’s part of his daily routine. His father confirmed this.
months Dawn was diagnosed with ovarian cancer after the Falcons selected Lindstrom with the 14th overall pick in the 2019 draft.
The family rallied around their matriarch, and Lindstrom took some time away from the team between training camp and the start of the regular season during his rookie season to spend some time with his family.
She struggled for two years. Lindstrom will return home during the season. Falcons owner Arthur Blank offered a private jet several times over two years to help Chris and his girlfriend (now wife) Madison return to Massachusetts.
During the 2021 season, Dawn’s health deteriorated. The Falcons told Lindstrom he could spend any time with his family. Dawn told her son she wanted him to keep playing. He was encouraged to come back on Mondays and Tuesdays whenever possible by then-Falcons coach Arthur Smith, who had no problem allowing him to miss meetings and practices.
📹 Boston College’s Chris Lindstrom received a call from @Atlanta Falcons They drafted him 14th overall in 2019 #NFLDraft @Big_Fish75 @BC Football @BCEagles #WBZ pic.twitter.com/FtgqBTEkyl
— Joe Giza (@JoeGiza) April 26, 2019
Madison stayed to help. They were separated for a month — Madison helped out at home during the NFL season. He calls every day to check on his wife and family.
“He was definitely a rock for his family,” Madison said. “He had an older brother, but as one of the oldest boys, it kind of falls on you and he was the support system for the other siblings.”
Two days before Dawn, 56, died, Lindstrom performed in San Francisco and then flew to Massachusetts to be with her. Lindstrom stayed to mourn before playing Sunday against the Detroit Lions.
A week later, the Falcons play in Buffalo. The Lindstroms were there, but instead of returning to Atlanta with the team, Chris got into a car with his family and drove 6.5 hours home to spend a few more days with his father and siblings.
“They played the last two games after she passed away,” Chris said. “Going forward, it’s going to be an incredibly supportive environment.”
Mr. Chris. explain There is an unspoken understanding. In everything they do—household chores, playing professional football or outings in the community—the same idea remains.
“It’s hard right now because everything we do, it’s like, ‘Oh, is this good enough for mom?'” Chris Sr. said. “‘Will Mom be happy with what we’ve done?'”
In 2023, while attending the NFLPA’s annual meeting in Hawaii, Lindstrom received a call from agent Bradley Blank. He told his clients he was about to become the highest-paid linebacker in NFL history. Lindstrom signed a five-year contract extension worth $105.2 million; his average annual salary is $20.5 million, the highest among NFL linebackers.
Lindstrom thought about his mom that day and how much he wanted to celebrate with her and how proud she would have been.
According to Alec, Dawn instilled a mantra in her children: “Whatever you do, you do it, and you do it the best you can. And you just keep going, no matter what, no matter what Whatever happens, you keep moving forward.”
It was this thought process that helped Lindstrom navigate the aftermath of Dawn’s death. That’s what allows him to improve every year in football. Alec believes Chris plays Dawn’s role in some way, her memory. Something she instilled in him and taught him. From the moment he learned he could play ball in a nephrologist’s office as a kid, all the way to this day.
It’s still difficult sometimes. He used to call her every morning on his 10-minute drive to work to say hello and get an update on his family, and it took him a year to get used to not having those conversations anymore. On game days, he made sure to have a brief chat with Madison and his dad. In the moments before the game in the Falcons locker room, when the team went into prayer, Lindstrom used the time to talk to Dawn and ask her to take care of him and others.
Dawn never saw her son make the Pro Bowl. When Lindstrom first made the game after the 2022 season, he thought about what his mom would want. One of the hardest parts about celebrating a moment is not being able to share it with her.
So Lindstrom turned it into a family gathering. He brought his family to Las Vegas in 2023 and to Orlando in 2024 to celebrate together — keeping Dawn’s idea alive through one of the ways she supported him: sports.
“It’s kind of a microcosm, an example of what she wanted us to do and celebrate together,” Lindstrom said. “Because that’s how we’ve always done it.”
