Tom Brady admitted during the week leading up to Super Bowl 51 that this season had been trying and his mother had been dealing with a serious health issue.
NESN's Doug Kyed shed some light onto that during a media session with Patriots owner Robert Kraft:
"This is the first game this year that his mom has been able to attend, you know. She's been going through chemotherapy and radiation," Kraft told ESPN. "And she made the effort to come with (Brady's) dad. So I said, 'You gotta win this one for mom.' And I was thinking about that in the second half with the score where it was. But we never gave up believing in Tommy."
Brady and the Patriots came back from a 21-point first-half deficit to stun the Atlanta Falcons and take home the quarterback's fifth ring — the most by a quarterback in NFL history.
He threw for 466 yards and two touchdowns, and you could just tell following the game how much it meant to have his mother in attendance.
Our thoughts are with the Brady family.