I am really excited about the Seahawks pick of Shaquem Griffin in the 5th round of the NFL Draft today. I'm excited for lots of reasons, not the least of which is that I think he will really help our team. In addition it is really cool to have twin brothers on the Seahawks. Without a doubt the most notable thing about Shaquem Griffin is that he was born with complications of amniotic band syndrome. This is a quite uncommon condition where instead of the two layers of the amniotic sac that unborn babies live in forming a perfect sac, the inner layer of the sac, the amnion, separates in a way that forms a band of tissue that can entangle part of a fetus causing that part to grow in a deformed way. In the most severe cases it can entangle the head or torso endangering the life of a fetus. More commonly it becomes wrapped around a digit or limb.
Image from the USCF article referenced below.
With technology available today sometimes this condition is diagnosed prenatally, and in select cases prenatal surgery can be done to release the entangled part of the fetus before birth, allowing some recovery of the damaged body part. When the Griffin twins were in utero this technology was not available, even if a prenatal diagnosis had been made. Here is a link to a good article about amniotic band syndrome for readers who are interested. https://fetus.ucsf.edu/amniotic-band-syndrome
Shaquem Griffin did not let the fact that he had his left hand amputated at age 4 stop him from becoming a great football player. I am excited to see how he does with the Seahawks. I hope that he makes the team, plays well enough to help us win, and has a long and successful NFL career. If he does not I have no doubt that using the determination he has already shown he will achieve great things with the rest of his life.
Great pick Hawks. Go Griffin twins. Go Hawks.