Over the past few months, students of George Mason have been sporting white shirts with the sketch of a student’s face on them. That student is Patrick Lin. Patrick is a senior who plays for Mason’s football team, and he sold the shirts in an effort to raise money for Tourette Syndrome (TS).

Lin was diagnosed with TS when he was in first grade. Lin had a difficult time explaining his difficulty to other kids, and doing so would usually seem to make it even worse.

“People used to ask me why I had tics, and others would even mock me, and if I told them I had TS, I thought the situation would get worse,” Lin said.

Lin finally decided to tell people because he knew he would have to eventually, and since it was his senior year, he didn’t have much time left to do so. People accepted his condition better than he could have asked for. The shirts helped him get the word out and allowed his peers to better understand TS.

“Now that people know I have TS and wear the shirts, I feel less self conscious about my tics, and I feel like my symptoms are dying down. Finally getting the word out helped push all this weight off my shoulders and feel so much better now,” Lin said.

With the help of his group of friends and his brother, Michael Lin, Patrick has been able to sell at least 100 shirts, raising $350 in donations to the Tourette Association of America.

The shirt design is courtesy of Edward Ramos. Ramos no longer attends Mason, but he has left his mark via these shirts. Edward was sketching friends’ portraits, and he decided to do one of Lin’s junior year football profile picture. Lin loved the drawing, as did his family, who encouraged him to make a few t-shirts. The idea started as a joke among his close friends and family, but eventually other students began asking for them, so Patrick decided to sell them.

Now, Mason students, friends, family, coaches, and even teachers have bought shirts from him.

“[The drawing] looked so accurate and it was awesome, so when I showed this to my family and other friends, they all encouraged me to make these into shirts. The shirts were intentionally for my group of friends and family, until people at Mason wanted them,” Lin said.

As of now, the shirts are not for immediate purchase, but if you would like one, just confirm your order with Lin, or anyone involved. Once enough people commit to buying the shirts, Patrick can place a new order.