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Twins Born With Heart Condition Play At Ben's Camp

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Jun 24, 2009 5:15 pm US/Eastern

Twins Born With Heart Condition Play At Ben's Camp

Reporting
John Shumway
MARS (KDKA) ― Under an picture perfect sun-drenched sky, almost 500 young people, led by 48 coaches and one two-time Super Bowl Champion quarterback went through their drills on this the last day of the Old Spice Ben Roethlisberger Football Camp.

Families came all the way from Arizona, South Florida, the Carolinas and throughout the Pittsburgh region to get their sons and daughters on the field with the camp's namesake.

"When I throw to the kids I don't throw to the ones I know will make the catch. I try to throw it to the girls, I try to throw it to the kid who's maybe an offensive lineman, the bigger kid," says Ben, "the kid who maybe hasn't caught a pass all day, the special needs kid, just because you know if they can catch one pass you see more excitement from them than the kid who's caught 10 passes in a day."

Among those who would fall into that category are the 9-year-old Glaister twins from Tarentum.

Noah and Nathaniel were born with congenital heart defects and have already experienced a lifetime of medical examinations, procedures and surgeries.

Noah will need another operation to replace a valve, but for the most part the boys are doing pretty well.

That does not mean they have a clean bill of health - or a full range of activities.

"It's odd that they can't do anything that strains their muscles such as archery or wrestling but they can participate in the running and the catching here," William, their father, said. "If it was tackle football they couldn't because they would have to exert that energy."

While their mom describes Nathaniel as the athletic twin and Noah as being more artistic, both were having a great time working through the drills with their coaches.

Nathaniel says his favorite part of camp was: "Spending time with our coaches and stuff and doing fun stuff with them."

Noah on the other hand says the highlight was meeting Ben Roethlisberger, (He's more a Penguins fan his mom says).

Plus Noah bigger interest is in becoming a chef and not just any kind of a chef - "a cake chef."

But then Ben's goal for his camp wasn't to turn out 500 future football stars it was to make sure his campers, "Have fun and hopefully learn one new thing."

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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