Everything started back in 2014. I was a third-year medical student and I had that crazy dream of maybe trying to reach the NFL.
You have to make sure that you have a strong Plan A. And for me, Plan A was getting my degree in medicine.
To have people here who believed in my project and supported me throughout the whole journey, who understood what I was trying to accomplish – the support was unbelievable.
Stepping on that Convocation stage, in front of my parents and my family, after combining for the past four years my pro football career with my medical studies, was by far one of my biggest accomplishments. And it was, to some extent, the first moment where I was actually really proud of myself.
If there’s one thing McGill taught me is that it was possible to accomplish big things and you can’t be afraid to dream.
Every time I stand in front of the camera and say ‘Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, McGill University,’ it makes me so proud. Every time I have a conversation with Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid and hear that his mother went to McGill and was one of the first women to graduate from the McGill Faculty of Medicine, it makes me proud.