Nick Eason has spent the past six months shedding pounds -- 67 and counting after he decided at 392 pounds that his life needed to change.

Part of that change is taking a full accounting of all the turmoil and hardship he's overcome in 42 years.

Eason is fast friends with just about everyone he encounters because of his personable nature, his laughter, his way with words.

Yet most who know him are not acquainted with the extent of this remarkable life, and remarkable story.

For the first time, this Clemson alum and second-year defensive tackles coach gets it all out exclusively to Tigerillustrated.com.

-- He spent his childhood never really knowing his father, who lived seven miles away as Nick lived with two grandparents who struggled to make ends meet.

-- He encountered the legacy of the Jim Crow South while in high school, where his retribution for dating a white girl was a baseball bat to the mouth swung by the girl's father.

-- He watched his college teammate, Brandon Rouse, die in a Clemson movie theater after collapsing and suffering a heart attack.

-- While with the Cleveland Browns, he unknowingly became involved in a massive Ponzi scheme that left him broke and fearing for his life.

-- While with the Pittsburgh Steelers, complications from a ruptured appendix pushed him near death and left him in the hospital for two weeks as he recovered from having part of his colon removed.

-- He lost his mother to breast cancer and has dealt with the death of 20 close family members over the years.

-- His spiral into depression after losing his grandmother and the 41-year-old Bodrick, and realizing just last year as he prepared for his first season back at Clemson that he had to make a change as he pushed close to 400 pounds (he's since lost 67 pounds and has a goal of getting to 300 by the start of the 2023 season).

ALSO SEE: THE STORY OF NICK EASON | THE STORY OF NICK EASON - Part 2 | THE STORY OF NICK EASON - Part 3

Yes, there's quite a lot more to Eason's story than has been known even to those who followed his life closely.

Here is Part 4 of Eason's story, in his own words:

THE STORY OF NICK EASON - Part 4 (For subscribers-only)

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