Corridor of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, who just lately appeared earlier than an overcapacity crowd on the Little Rock Landing Membership Aug. 26, has revealed he has Parkinson’s.
Favre made the revelation Tuesday throughout his testimony earlier than the Home Methods and Means Committee investigating Mississippi’s misuse of welfare funds, a number of media retailers have reported. The revelation got here as Favre was going through lawmakers as to the scandal, which has tarnished the NFLer’s fame and which he claims to have been duped into collaborating.
At one level in his testimony, Favre famous his private monetary loss as an investor in a hoped-for concussion drug from the now-defunct drug firm Prevacus, at which era he dropped the bombshell information about his situation.
“I additionally misplaced an funding in an organization that I imagine was growing a breakthrough concussion drug I assumed would assist others, and I’m certain you’ll perceive why it’s too late for me as a result of I’ve just lately been identified with Parkinson’s,” Favre mentioned.
Favre, who appeared in Little Rock sporting a t-shirt that learn “Every little thing Hurts,” was notably slower to reply questions onstage and appeared to wrestle to gather his ideas throughout a radio interview with Justin Acri and D.J. Williams of 103.7 The Buzz.
Favre at Little Rock Landing Membership. Picture by Ryan Parker.
In recent times, neurological specialists have paid rising consideration to contact sports activities, specifically soccer, and their affect on athletes’ long-term well being. Parkinson’s is among the many circumstances believed to have traumatic mind harm at its root.
Spending 20 years within the NFL at a high-target place like quarterback would put any participant within the crosshairs of an untold variety of hits, however Favre’s fame for toughness put him at even larger threat than normal. He didn’t miss a single recreation from 1993 to 2009 and set a file for consecutive begins.
In a 2022 interview with TMZ Sports activities, Favre estimated he had suffered “hundreds” of concussions in line with present definitions in his soccer profession.
An 11-time Professional Bowler and three-time MVP, the 54-year-old is without doubt one of the most prolific passers in league historical past. He’s fourth all-time in each passing yards (71,838) and touchdowns (508). On the draw back, he grew to become hooked on prescription painkillers throughout his taking part in profession, touchdown him in rehab 3 times. It’s a battle he has overtly shared with audiences, together with the Little Rock crowd the place he informed the viewers at his worst, he was taking 16 Vicodin without delay each evening.
“Sixteen drugs is tough to swallow at one time, and I’d throw up and would choose them up out of the throw-up,” he mentioned. “That’s what habit can do to you, and I knew on the time this ain’t good, however but I had gained three MVPs in a row, and a part of me was like, I’m doing one thing proper, however in the meantime, I used to be positively heading within the flawed path.”
Favre additionally commented in Little Rock about showing in an upcoming documentary, “Concussed: The American Dream,” about concussions and the NFL.
“Concussions are critical,” he mentioned. “They’re very critical, and yeah, we have a look at them otherwise in the present day, however the identical issues nonetheless exist.”
By way of all of it, he mentioned, he informed the gang he had no regrets.
“I by no means tried to be one thing I wasn’t,” he mentioned. “You reside and be taught from issues, however for me, all of it got here right down to I like taking part in. That’s what I grew up doing. I like my teammates and like to compete with them, compete in opposition to them, the battle a part of it, however on the finish of the day, I used to be simply doing what I cherished, and folks appreciated it.”
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