TAMPA, Fla — It goes without saying it's not just the football community reflecting on Tom Brady's career, it's the fans too.
"Oh I was bawling. It was hard. It still is," Noah Reeb, a 10-year-old fan and cancer survivor, said.
Brady's time on the field has made a lasting impression on him. Like many fans, the Utah-native is still trying to process the news saying it's hard when you know in your heart that Tom saved your life.
"The one thing that's at the top of my mind is how many times I've been down, I thought of him. I can't even count. I feel like I can say he saved me through a lot of things," Reeb said.
Reeb was diagnosed with germinoma, a cancer in his brain, in February 2020. Brady was his inspiration to get through every treatment, he said. In August 2021, Noah would be cancer-free, and shortly after, he'd learn Brady would send him to the Super Bowl in Los Angeles.
"Tom Brady didn't know this, obviously, at the time, but we've been on a very long journey," James Reeb, Noah's dad, said. "To have it, sort of, end in that way. That was like, oh man."
During that game, Noah held a sign that said, "Tom Brady helped me beat brain Cancer."
Once the Bucs players on the sidelines noticed, they got Brady's attention. At the end of the game, the GOAT came over and brought Noah a hat and told him he believed in him. That was the moment for Noah Reeb.
"I want to tell them, thank you," Noah said. "Thank you for believing in me and telling me that I can do it."
That would be the Reebs last time seeing Brady play on the field in person, but the start of a relationship they hold close. While Brady takes a step away from the field, they won't forget him.
"We have a joke in this family that my dad tells. He says, "We'll never forget what's his name?' I think that Tom Brady will be proud of our lives. What we'll carry with us is the example and the lesson that he taught us through this," James said.