Peanut Tillman talks in front of Congress

After Wednesday's practice, the Bears held their annual Halloween celebration at Halas Hall. A slew of children showed up in their costumes to romp around the facility.

Among the celebrants? One-year-old Tiana Tillman, the daughter of cornerback Charles Tillman. As many Bears fans know, she was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and needed the Berlin Heart to stay alive until she received a heart transplant at 6 months of age.

On Tuesday, Tillman flew to Washington to share his story with Congress.

"The Berlin Heart is just one of the companies who have the newer technology that can save lives," Tillman said today. "It was basically just letting Congress know that…just letting know…basically it was just awareness. Letting them know, hey, there’s smaller companies out there that can…like, I saw the official world’s smallest heart pump."

At this point, he pulled a pen lid out of former Daily Herald and Chicago Tribune scribe John Mullin's shirt pocket.

"It was like this big. And it works. It saves lives. Saved a pregnant woman’s life. A baby. It was amazing to see the different technologies of how advanced their medicine is.

"My purpose there was not to get (the Berlin Heart) FDA-approved. That’s not what my purpose was. I hope they do. I hope they approve it. But my focus was just to inform Congress of the medical technology of the Berlin Heart."

Tillman being Tillman, though, he couldn't help but notice which Congressmen came up to talk with him after his appearance in front of a committee.

"I know the room had about 70 people in it. I didn’t see (Illinois Sen. Dick) Durbin. I’m sure he would’ve walked up and talked to me. I did meet a Minnesota congressman. Lot of Minnesota fans in Washington. I met a lot of those guys. And they were VERY proud of their Vikings. "

LW