Obwohl es vor meiner Zeit als Football-Fan liegt - "The Catch" ist mir natürlich dank vieler Highlight-Videos ein Begriff. Nun hat Dwight Clark bekannt gegeben, dass er an der Muskelschwäche ALS erkrankt ist. In der neuen Peter King Kolumne sagt Clark selber dazu:
He said he began to feel symptoms of muscle weakness in 2015. I’m told he was told with finality he had ALS in the middle of 2016. Said Clark: “I can’t run, play golf or walk any distances. Picking up anything over 30 pounds is a chore. The one piece of good news is that the disease seems to be progressing more slowly than in some patients.”
And he said: “I’ve been asked if playing football caused this. I don’t know for sure. But I certainly suspect it did. And I encourage the NFLPA and the NFL to continue working together in their efforts to make the game of football safer, especially as it relates to head trauma.”
Ich wünsche Clark alles Gute im Kampf gegen die Krankheit und hoffe, dass es schon bald ein mögliches Heilmittel gibt. Das wäre doch mal eine positive Nachricht...
Und das macht natürlich nachdenklich:
Zitat von Peter KingClark becomes at least the sixth former player in the past 10 years to be diagnosed with this incurable disease that gradually shuts down every muscle in the body. Former Patriots and Eagles running back Kevin Turner had ALS and died in 2016. Saints special-teamer Steve Gleason, who turned 40 on Sunday, lives with the malady and has become a tireless advocate for funding to try to find a cure. Former Tennessee linebacker Tim Shaw also has the disease and is an advocate for a cure. Former Raiders fullback Steve Smith suffers from it as well, as does former Dolphins and Ravens special-teamer O.J. Brigance. In 2012, the American Academy of Neurology published a study of 3,500 former players that said pro football players were four times as likely to die from ALS or Alzheimer’s disease as the general population.