Former Tennessee Titans and New York Jets running back Chris Johnson has publicly disclosed that he is living with ALS.
The 2009 NFL Offensive Player of the Year had promoted a major sit-down with fellow football standout Michael Strahan on Good Morning America, but viewers were shocked Monday when the purpose of the interview became clear.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurological condition that gradually attacks motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord.
Johnson, once regarded as one of the fastest running backs the NFL has ever seen, was diagnosed last year at 39. He has since lost the ability to speak and, during the ABC interview alongside his wife, used eye movements to operate a voice-generating device.
‘First, I want people to know that I’m still me,’ he said. ‘ALS has changed what my body can do but it hasn’t changed who I am.’
The speed of his decline moved many fans, who reacted emotionally as Johnson described the diagnosis and how the disease has affected his body.
NFL star Chris Johnson has lost the ability to speak, just one year after being diagnosed with ALS
Johnson, diagnosed last year, now communicates by using his eyes to control a voice machine
When asked why he had chosen now to share his story, Johnson revealed: ‘Because if sharing my story helps even one person get diagnosed sooner, inspires more research or gives another family hope, then it’s worth it.’
The ex-NFL star was in what he describes as the ‘prime of his life’ when he received the diagnosis and had been working out every day and spending time with his wife and four children.
‘I first noticed weakness in my right hand,’ he told Strahan. ‘At first it was little things like, my grip didn’t feel right. And I wasn’t as strong as I’d always been.’
His wife Brittany explained how she had initially thought it was a simpler, football-related injury like a pinched nerve, before their world began to unravel.
‘We hoped it was something else, but after thorough testing, they finally came down with a diagnosis of ALS,’ Johnson then explained. ‘They told us about a medication that might extend life by a few months, then they told us to get our affairs in order.
‘It was hard hearing that but after watching Good Morning America and seeing Dr Merit [Cudkowicz] with Eric Dane, we reached out to her. She was willing to think more creatively and offer experimental treatments that might help and advance research.’
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Johnson has no history of the disease in his family and doctors believe his condition to be a case of ‘sporadic ALS’, which is the most common form of the disease and occurs randomly.
‘It can happen to someone who never expected it,’ a devastated Johnson revealed. ‘I don’t know if you can ever fully process it. At first you’re in shock, then you realize you have two choices: you can give up or you can fight. I chose to fight.’
After his diagnosis, doctors recorded Johnson’s voice, so that even when he is using a machine to speak, it still sounds exactly like him.
Johnson, 40, only ended his professional career in 2017 after three seasons with the Arizona Cardinals.
He is best known for his six seasons in Tennessee, during which he was voted to the Pro Bowl three times and won Offensive Player of the Year, before moving to the New York Jets.
Brittany went on to reveal that she was initially ‘in denial’ about the diagnosis, and that her thoughts immediately went to their four children.
‘You want it to be anything else, you want the doctors to be wrong,’ she revealed. ‘The life that we previously had is now a thing of the past, but we’re still hopeful that a breakthrough will happen, and that God, a miracle will happen.’
Chris added that Brittany ‘hasn’t left my side’ since his diagnosis, and that his children give him reason to carry on.
‘It’s continued to progress much faster than I imagined,’ Johnson explained. ‘I want people to understand just how quickly ALS can attack your body. Just over a year ago I was picking up my seven-year-old daughter so she could make a wish with her birthday cake. Today, I couldn’t do that.’
