Ravens' Lamar Jackson shares viral moment with young fan. Here's how the meeting came about

Jason and Megan Berry are New Orleans Saints fans, but their son Landon broke family tradition when he started rooting for the Baltimore Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson.

Landon — who has a heart condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome, the same condition as former tight end Greg Olsen’s son T.J. — started following Jackson closely.

“He’s a beast,” the eight-year-old said a year ago, talking about the former MVP to his father.

From that moment, Jason went on a quest to connect his son with the Pro Bowl quarterback.

Landon's condition means the left side of his heart was underdeveloped at birth. He underwent a series of three surgeries by the time he was two and a half years old to reconstruct his heart, and he lives with a defibrillator to regulate his heartbeat.

“No matter what he’s going through or what procedure he has, he always has a smile on his face,” Megan said of her son.

Due to his condition, Landon probably won’t be able to live out his dream of playing professional football. However, he plays flag football and is an encyclopedia on the sport. He sits and watches games, keeps up with the latest news for all the teams and plays Madden on Xbox every single day (as the Ravens, of course).

Knowing their son "doesn't let anything stop him," Jason used the same determination to help Landon meet his favorite player.

The Ravens were traveling to play the Saints in New Orleans. The family lives about 90 minutes away in Biloxi, Miss., so Jason started emailing around to see how he could make his son's dream come true.

With the help of a family friend, Jason's inquiry landed on the desk of Chad Steele, Baltimore's senior vice president of communications. Steele is the father of a 12-year-old daughter and son the same age as Landon.

"As a dad, that spoke to me," Steele told USA TODAY Sports. "If there's something we can do for families like this, let's do it."

The team asked Jackson if he'd be interested in helping make the boy's dream come true and said his answer was, "Yes, absolutely."

"That's how he was raised," Steele said of the quarterback. "That's the type of person he is."

On the day of the meetup, Landon thought he and his family were attending Jason's work meeting at J.W. Marriott hotel near the Caesars Superdome.

Instead, he met his idol.

After Landon's parents and older brother, Gavin, entered a conference room, Jackson strolled in to meet the family. Landon instantly ran up to the quarterback, gave him a hug and didn't let go.

“It was fun,” Landon told USA TODAY Sports.

Baltimore tweeted a video the father recorded of the meeting, and it has more than seven million views.

The Berry family said Jackson spent 20-25 minutes chatting with Landon and answering his questions about what it’s like to play in the NFL and Jackson’s friendship with wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. Jackson also threw around a football with Landon and signed his jersey.

“It was a blessing,” Jason said. “We’re super, super lucky Landon got to experience that.”

The Berry family also attended the game and stood on the sideline for warmups where Jackson gave another hug to his new friend.

The excitement didn’t end when Landon and his family left after the Ravens secured a 27-13 win over the Saints. Jackson shared the team’s Twitter post, commenting “My boy Landon.”

“That was awesome,” Jason said. “For him to take the time was amazing.”

The moment lives on for Landon, too, the father noted.

“That’s all he talks about now.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lamar Jackson and Landon Berry: Story of viral moment with young fan