Patriots’ Guy will wear his heart on his cleats Sunday

FOXBOROUGH, MASS. New England Patriots defensive end Lawrence Guy is familiar with trials on the football field.

During his seven-year NFL career, the 27-year-old bounced around with four other teams before landing in New England this off-season. But his football journey has intersected with a pair of lifealtering tragedies.

Last year Guy was is his second full season with the Baltimore Ravens when he and his wife lost a baby to a miscarriage during the fifth month of pregnancy. Then, last month he was blindsided again by news his hometown of Las Vegas was the site of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

On Sunday, Guy will honour the 59 killed and more than 500 injured in the attack during the NFL’s My Cause, My Cleats initiative. He’s also wearing a cleat for Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, an organization that helped him and his wife heal from the loss of their unborn child.

Guy is one of 14 Patriots who will be wearing specialized cleats in the second year of the NFLwide event, aimed at highlighting the various organizations players want to bring awareness to. After the games, fans can bid on the cleats with all proceeds going back to players’ various charities.

Guy said the Vegas shooting still haunts him.

“I had family at the concert. I had family that were staying at the hotel that week,” he said. “It just hurts . ... You think about the families that are there enjoying themselves that got hit with the horrible news that night or that morning. It’s going to constantly affect me and affect the families that were involved in that.”

The centrepiece of Guy’s Las Vegas cleat is a reimagined representation of the city’s iconic sign.