Last spring, former Florida QB Tim Tebow found out his father had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

The former Heisman trophy winner, who is now trying his hand at baseball, opened up about the emotional experience with PEOPLE magazine:

“Talking to him that night, I wished that I could have been there with him. I asked him whether he needed me to come home, and he said, ‘No, you need to keep doing what you’re doing.’”

Despite his father’s reassurances, the diagnosis was difficult for Tebow to hear. “It wasn’t a good night,” he recalls. “I got really emotional. I mean, this is my dad.”

According to the article, Tebow has dedicated his baseball season to his father, Bob Tebow.

Check out the full article in PEOPLE magazine, which hits newsstands on Friday.