--- description: Check goes to the family of a four-year-old fan who has hypoplastic left heart syndrome title: Raiders' Menelik Watson Donates Game Check to 4-Year-Old With Heart Syndrome image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d5f87eb86b99ede/6987706135ba6f265ac06268/ap7051497997.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Sports](/section/sports/) ## Sports Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Football](/tag/football/) ## Football Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Raiders' Menelik Watson Donates Game Check to 4-Year-Old With Heart Syndrome by [Sports Illustrated / Molly Geary](/author/sports-illustrated/) ## Sports Illustrated / Molly Geary Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 21, 2014 11:52 PM CUT  Oakland Raiders offensive tackle Menelik Watson at a press conference at Pennyhill Park, Bagshot, England, Sept. 24, 2014. Oakland Raiders offensive tackle Menelik Watson at a press conference at Pennyhill Park, Bagshot, England, Sept. 24, 2014.Tim Ireland—AP by [Sports Illustrated / Molly Geary](/author/sports-illustrated/) ## Sports Illustrated / Molly Geary Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 21, 2014 11:52 PM CUT On Sunday, Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reported that Oakland [Raiders](http://www.si.com/nfl/team/oakland-raiders "undefined") offensive tackle [Menelik Watson](http://www.si.com/nfl/player/menelik-watson "undefined") donated his game check for this week to the family of a four-year-old fan who has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, according [to ProFootballTalk](http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/12/21/menelik-watson-donates-game-check-to-four-year-old-fan/ "undefined"). Ava Urrea, who was born with half a heart and has had 14 surgeries, got to visit the Raiders this week after Glazer arranged for the meeting through his Touchdown Dreams program. • [Grizzlies buy new car for intern after his gets stolen​](http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2014/12/19/memphis-grizzlies-buy-intern-car-stolen "undefined") Players gave her a signed helmet, signed footballs and made her captain for a day, according to Glazer. ProFootballTalk found that Watson’s base salary for the year is $622,948, making his weekly gross salary $36,944\. Accounting for taxes, Urrea and her family should receive around $18,000. > [](https://twitter.com/JayGlazer/status/546722276561793025) [_This article originally appeared on SportsIllustrated.com_](http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/12/21/menelik-watson-donates-check-fan-raiders "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3643452/raiders-menelik-watson-donates-child-heart-syndrome/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3643452/raiders-menelik-watson-donates-child-heart-syndrome/"},"headline":"Raiders' Menelik Watson Donates Game Check to 4-Year-Old With Heart Syndrome","datePublished":"2014-12-21T23:52:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:02:51.474Z","description":"Check goes to the family of a four-year-old fan who has hypoplastic left heart syndrome","url":"https://time.com/3643452/raiders-menelik-watson-donates-child-heart-syndrome/","keywords":["Football"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d5f87eb86b99ede/6987706135ba6f265ac06268/ap7051497997.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sports Illustrated / Molly Geary"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d5f87eb86b99ede/6987706135ba6f265ac06268/ap7051497997.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Britain Raiders Football","caption":"Britain Raiders Football","creditText":"Tim Ireland—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/football/","name":"Football"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3643452/raiders-menelik-watson-donates-child-heart-syndrome/","name":"Raiders' Menelik Watson Donates Game Check to 4-Year-Old With Heart Syndrome"}}]}] ```