Paul McGowan’s daughter needs our love, prayers and donations.

Paul and Jeanne McGowan’s 34-year-old daughter, Alexis Flood, has been diagnosed with a very aggressive Stage 2B Hodgkin’s Lymphoma with inoperable tumors. She is undergoing protracted chemotherapy treatments, which leaves her too weak to work, so Paul’s fellow Seminole County firefighters have started a GoFundMe account to help her and her 4-year-old daughter, Charlotte Leigh, manage their household expenses.

Osceola analyst Mark Salva, who was McGowan’s roommate at FSU, verified the news and the importance of the GoFundMe effort.

"Paul has always been the most no-nonsense dude. He is also the most humble and private guy and is terribly uncomfortable talking about himself, so I know for him to put this out there means something," Salva said.

Salva has known McGowan since the two played football at Winter Park High School, not far from Winter Springs, where McGowan began his 25-year career as a Seminole County Firefighter.

In 1987, the All-American won the Butkus Award, given to the best college linebacker, and became the first of 28 FSU football players who would be named as the national player of the year.

“Paul was a true throwback linebacker who could play in any era except perhaps this one because he would've been thrown out for targeting every game,” Salva said. “A runner and a hitter, a tackling machine that craved contact and had incredible instincts.”

Salva saw it all firsthand as 38’s roommate and teammate.

“Even in high school he was all about ball, weightlifting and training and I would like to think we pushed each other but, if I'm being honest, I was the one trying to keep up with him,” Salva said. “I remember the Christmas of our senior year at Winter Park when he called me and said we had to lift because we couldn't miss a day. We found the student center at UCF was open, so we talked our way in to get a lift. At FSU we both played as freshmen because the way we trained in high school enabled us to compete right away and that was him setting the tone.”

Now the McGowan family faces another real-life challenge.

According to the GoFundMe account, “Alexis is bringing that same defensive spirit and Noles’ pride to the fight for her life for the sake of her and her family. Paul is also a much-loved Firefighter at the Seminole County Fire Department and has served the Seminole County community for nearly 25 years … so the firefighting community also considers this fight in their fire family for Paul and Jeanne.”

The Osceola would like our readers to consider this a fight in the Seminole sports community as well. Anything you can share through prayer or donation will lighten the load on this Seminole family.