Last Thursday, Patterson called Van Atta at his home.
"He was really excited to talk to somebody about it," Patterson said. "What he has is a little different from what I have, but there are similarities."
Van Atta was mostly looking for advice and some reassurance.
"I was excited to talk to a football player having kind of the same malformation that I do, the same situation that I'm in," Van Atta said. "It was great to finally talk to somebody who is going through this, about the recovery process. It's great to hear from people on the outside that it's going to be OK. It's kind of hard to accept it from them. Hearing it from Mr. Patterson helped me a lot."
Patterson had reassuring words for the young man.
"I just told him to stay positive," Patterson said. "You know what the doctors are telling you. You want the best answers, but the doctors can only give you what they are seeing."
Like Patterson, Van Atta, 6-4, 280, is a lineman. Unlike Patterson, the longest-tenured Eagle, Van Atta is just 17. Not knowing is never easy as an adult, but even harder as a child. Van Atta, however, is no normal teenager.
His grandfather owns the Destin Airport, 10 minutes from his home. Kyle has been flying planes since he was 9 years old, officially since he was 12. When he goes to college, and he is on the recruiting radar of several big-time schools, he plans to major in aeronautical engineering.
The two linemen bonded over their shared experiences.
"It was just like with me," Patterson said. "When the doctors come in, you just don't know what they're going to say. It's always, 'We've got some good news and some bad news.' You just never know what it's going to really be."
