There are only two NFL players who have publicly acknowledged their epilepsy, Alan Fanceca of the New York Jets and the Atlanta Falcons’ own Jason Snelling.

Snelling spent April 15 speaking to families with a loved one suffering from epilepsy at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite in Sandy Springs.

“I have epilepsy and this is my community, so this is a big part of my life now, coming out and speaking about it big,” Snelling said. “Football was my first passion, but this is my new passion.”

Snelling, who is coming off of his best year ever — 812 yards rushing and four touchdowns — said it wasn’t always easy speaking about his disease.

“When I got to college I was still up in the air about talking to people about it,” he said. “You’re always afraid of what people will think, but you learn who your real friends are and who your not-so-real friends are.”

Debi Cassidy, the manager of the neuroscience operations at Children’s Healthcare, said having Snelling speak is something that will help the young children immensely.

“With anything that you have, whether it’s epilepsy [or any other disease], when you find somebody else who has the same thing, it’s just so valuable to you to know that you’re not alone,” she said. “So for these young kids to find out that they’re not alone and that he was scared and he was afraid of his friends calling him out, that will help boost their own confidence while they manage their own disease.”

A Virginia native, Snelling was diagnosed when he was 15 years old after suffering from seizures and blackouts. After learning to manage his epilepsy, he attended the University of Virginia where he is the fifth-leading rusher in school history.

It was not always smooth sailing for Snelling in college, however.

After a breakout freshman year with his disease under control, the seizures began to come more frequently causing him to miss his sophomore year.

“I started feeling down and everything,” Snelling said. “Luckily for me I started attending support groups like this.

“You know, I had a lot of goals and I wanted to do certain things and I wasn’t going to let epilepsy stop me.”

Consider the goals met.

Snelling has been seizure-free for almost two years and he has been on a national tour in hopes of educating people about epilepsy.

He was in Washington last month to participate in the National Epilepsy Walk in hopes of drawing awareness to the disease.