How a Dying Fan Has Inspired Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns

Tom Seipel was in hospice care when he received a video from the Browns quarterback and an invitation for what he calls one of the best adventures of his life

Tom Seipel was riding shotgun leaving FirstEnergy Stadium when he asked a question about the Cleveland Browns’ play calling. His beloved team had just clinched their first playoff berth in nearly two decades. “We’ve been running so much play action this year,” he said. “Why didn’t we run a single pass out of play action today?”

In the driver’s seat, Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield smiled. “We can’t show the Steelers everything this week,” he said, and the game ball, with the final score of CLEVELAND 24 – PITTSBURGH 22 written on it, bounced in the center console between the two men.

“The Browns have always been a part of me,” explains Seipel, and some of his earliest memories are of watching “The Drive” and “The Fumble” on his couch with his father. Starting in high school, he would try to go to at least one game every year, sitting in the upper decks of the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, his hands shoved into his pockets holding onto a hand warmer.

But he’d never been to a game like this one, and not just because he was getting a ride home from the quarterback. Two weeks earlier, Seipel had been put into hospice care after a battle with kidney cancer, and doctors told him he only had a few weeks to live. During the final week of the NFL season, he wrote a message on the Browns Reddit page. “Thanks for the memories,” he wrote. “I’ll be rooting from up above. And if you ever see a wind gust blow a FG wide. Know it was me!”

The host of the Browns podcast Dawgs of War saw the message and sent it to Mayfield. A few days later, Seipel received a text from an unknown number with a video attached. It was the star quarterback. “I was just reading up on your story,” said Mayfield in the video. “You’re a warrior.” Seipel DM’d Mayfield and his wife Emily to thank them. Almost instantly, Emily responded. She would continue to check in on him every night after that, too.

Soon after arranging the video, the podcast host, Rawley Davis, was in touch again. The owner of the Cleveland apparel company Szabo Apparel was willing to give Seipel four tickets to the Week 17 game. They wanted to know: Would Seipel be interested in coming to one more game?

At first, he said no. The travel, the crowded stadium…He was worried all of it would be too much. But 30 minutes later he called back and asked if the invitation was still open. “If I’m gonna die, that would be a pretty sweet way to go, sitting in the Browns stadium,” he said of his thought process at the time. “If God’s gonna take me, that would be a pretty awesome story.”

He told Emily Mayfield that he was going to travel for the game, and she responded with an offer of her own. He could have her 10-person suite, bring a few extra friends, and be more comfortable. So he went. And at the game, while his father and friends spent time in the suite warming up, Seipel stayed outside watching every minute. When Mayfield clinched the victory by scrambling for a first down, Emily was screaming right next to Seipel.

He gave her three orange wristbands that said, “#SEIPELSTRONG,” and she promised to get one to the quarterback. After the game, she told him to meet her at an elevator. They went to the parking lot, and there was Mayfield, who greeted Seipel with a hug. After they chatted, Seipel was ordering an Uber when Mayfield looked over his shoulder. “Why don’t we give you a lift?”

The quarterback continues to stay in touch. During the Browns playoff win last weekend, Seipel was watching at home with his family. Mayfield wore a long sleeve shirt, but underneath, a small orange bracelet stuck out. “That’s mine!” said Seipel. After the game, Mayfield texted him. “That bracelet brought us good luck. You’re my good luck charm.”

Seipel is doing better. His nausea is gone, but he still has pain in his back. He can’t wait for the game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, January 17, which he’s planning to watch at home. “I honestly think he’s keeping me alive,” Seipel said of Mayfield in one of his daily video blogs. “Joy is the best medicine for anything.”

Maybe the Browns will win again. Maybe they’ll keep winning. Maybe they’ll even win a Super Bowl. “I will die happy either way,” Seipel says. “But I’d really die happy then.”

To donate to help Tom’s family cover medical costs, visit this GoFundMe.