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Denver Broncos family finally together for first time at AFC Championship game after lung transplant

By Michael Abeyta

Updated on: January 25, 2026 / 6:05 PM MST / CBS Colorado

Lung transplant allows Broncos fan to finally attend game with family in the Mile High City

When it comes to dancing, no one gets Denver Broncos fans moving better than Eric Del Toro, A.K.A. DT Jams Live.

"This is one place we can all come together to spread love and support our team," he said.

Broncos fans dance in the parking lot of Empower Field at Mile High ahead of the AFC Championship game on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Denver as Eric Del Toro, A.K.A. DT Jams Live, plays music. CBS

A Denver native, for 15 years, he traveled to every home game from his home in Modesto, California.

"Oh, man. We have frequent fliers on Southwest, so I don't pay for flights anymore," Del Toro said.

This time, he brought his daughter Jessica, which he says is pretty special.

"I look at her and everything she's been through, you know, I was crying this morning just watching her in the hotel," he said.

Jessica Del Toro and her father Eric Del Toro are finally together at a Broncos home game on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. It used to be impossible, given Jessica's pulmonary hypertension and difficulty breathing at a mile high, but a double lung transplant three years ago now allows Jessica to breathe in Denver. CBS

Ten years ago, the last time the Broncos were in the AFC Championship Game, she couldn't have come because she couldn't breathe in the Mile High City.

"I have pulmonary hypertension. There's no cure," Jessica Del Toro said in an interview with CBS News Colorado at her home in 2016.

"The air is really thin, as we all know, in Colorado. And she had a lot of trouble breathing," Eric Del Toro said.

So back then, she watched the game at home with the rest of her family. It seemed like taking her to Mile High was just a dream for her father.

Jessica Del Toro reads a newspaper in an undated childhood photo. CBS

"There will be 100,000 people at her wedding, because it's going to be at Mile High Stadium," he said in that 2016 interview with CBS Colorado.

But then everything changed.

"With God's blessing, she got a lung transplant three years ago. A double lung transplant," Eric Del Toro said.

That means Denver is no longer off limits for her, and the whole Del Toro family can come home to see their Broncos. This is Jessica Del Toro's second game ever at Mile High with her dad. She loves every minute. So does her dad.

"Seeing her so happy to be able to be with her people in my city and not have no struggles breathing. It's just priceless, man," he said. "It's just a blessing from the man up there."

So win or lose, Jessica Del Toro only has one thing to say — or scream — as her dad brings the funk in the south parking lot of Empower Field at Mile High: "Go Broncos!"

Michael Abeyta

Your Reporter Michael Abeyta specializes in coverage of the Colorado city of Aurora. Share you story ideas with him by sending an email to yourreporter@cbs.com.