​Some things everybody sees. Some things nobody does.Last weekend, when Tammi Carr watched her son Tommy Carr throw his first touchdown pass as quarterback for Michigan football, a national TV audience witnessed her “lose total control of my body,” she said, laughing.Tammi was jumping as if the floor were on fire. She spun. She waved her fists. She kept on jumping and twirling until she finally pulled a friend into her kangaroo dance.What a moment 🤗Come for @UMichFootball QB Tommy Carr tossing his first career TD, and stay for the Carr family celebrating.Watch on BTN pic.twitter.com/J7QbNxeNyD— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) September 19, 2026All of this, captured by the TV cameras, quickly surfaced on the internet, and went viral around the world.“I didn’t know the cameras were on me,” Tammi said, “but even if I did, it wouldn’t have mattered. I was so beyond excited.”On a surface level, you could understand why. Tammi’s husband, Jason – Tommy’s dad – had been a quarterback at Michigan. Her father, Tom Curtis – Tommy’s grandfather – had been an All-American safety at Michigan. Her father in-law Lloyd Carr – Tommy’s other grandfather – coached the Michigan football team to a national championship.So this was a blueblood debut (or a maize-and-blueblood debut) except no one knew it was going to happen. Tommy is the backup to starter Bryce Underwood. And, as with any understudy, you never know when your spotlight moment is coming. The Wolverines had played two games already; Tommy hadn’t seen the field.But in the fourth quarter of Michigan’s blowout victory over UTEP, “I started getting texts from people in the stands who could see Tommy warming up,” Tammi said. “Then we saw him stretching and running on the sidelines, and we said, ‘Oh gosh, I think he’s going to get in!’ “And when her 19-year-old son finally ran onto that famous field, where so many men in her family had toiled, Tammi was overcome with emotion. She started crying even before Tommy took a snap. Most of us would assume this was all about a mother watching her son realize his dreams.But it was also about a son who never got the chance.Some things everybody sees. Some things nobody does.A tight-knit trio There were once three Carr boys, and there were always supposed to be three, CJ, currently the starting quarterback at Notre Dame, Tommy, the freshman at Michigan, and baby brother Chad. As kids, they played together. Wrestled together. Teased and laughed and tackled one another. Chad, only 3 years old with blonde bangs, would razz his older Michigan-loving siblings by saying he wanted to play for Michigan State. He was so small, but had such a big personality, a mind of his own, an artistic side, a playful vocabulary.And then, just days before his fourth birthday, he suddenly had something else.A diagnosis. Of DIPG.The acronym stands for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, but never mind that. It’s a four-letter word for death.