Green Bay Packers great Brett Favre has revealed during testimony before Congress that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Favre is 54 years old.
“I am sure why you will understand why it’s too late for me because I’ve recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. This is also a cause dear to my heart,” Favre told a U.S. House panel, according to a video of his appearance posted to X by NewsNation.
According to ESPN, Favre made the disclosure while testifying before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee on September 24.
Although Favre has discussed having concussions in the past, it’s not clear what caused his Parkinson’s Disease, at least publicly. However, Favre previously told Bubba the Love Sponge that he thinks he had “thousands” of concussions during his football career, although he was not formally diagnosed with that many.
According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, a recent study showed that “regardless of age, sex, socioeconomic status and residence, having suffered a single concussion in one’s lifetime increased the likelihood of later being diagnosed with: Parkinson’s disease by 57%.” The Mayo Clinic reported that “Epidemiologic studies have reported a strong association of traumatic brain injury with an increased risk of developing parkinsonism.”
Brett Favre Made the Parkinson’s Disease Revelation While Testifying About a Company Working on a Concussion Drug, Reports Say
According to ESPN, Favre was speaking before Congress about Prevacus, “a company making a concussion drug that received $2 million of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds.”
ESPN reported that Favre “was the top investor in Prevacus and text messages show he began asking state officials for help securing funds for the company in November 2018.”
“Sadly, I also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others,” Favre also testified, according to the video.
According to ESPN, Prevacus’ founder, Jacob VanLandingham, “pleaded guilty to wire fraud in July, admitting that he used Mississippi welfare money to pay off gambling and other debts.”
In the interview with Bubba the Love Sponge, Favre said he used to think he only had three concussions over his football career but now thinks he had over 1,000.
“The thing about concussions is we still don’t know a lot about them,” Favre said in that interview. “If you had asked me this 10 years ago, how many concussions I had, I would’ve said three. The reason I would have said three, I thought concussions were where you get knocked out, where you black out for a period of time you don’t know where you are, memory loss, dizzy. A boxer gets knocked and tries to get up, his legs are rubber, that’s a concussion.”
He updated the number to possibly thousands, saying, “What we now know is concussions happen all the time,” Favre said. “You get tackled and your head hits the turf, you see the flashes of light or ringing in your ears, but you’re able to play. Based on that, thousands, had to be, because every time my head hit the turf, there was ringing or stars going, flash bulbs, but I was still able to play.”
He added in the interview, “That’s what’s kind of frightening about the concussion thing. “It’s the ones that seem minor that do the damage, because you’re able to play and keep going, and still today, there’s probably guys that have them, and they’re like ‘I’m not going out.'”
Parkinson’s Disease is a ‘Movement Disorder of the Nervous System,’ According to the Mayo Clinic
According to the Mayo Clinic, Parkinson’s Disease “is a movement disorder of the nervous system that worsens over time. The nervous system is a network of nerve cells that controls many parts of the body, including movement.”
Symptoms “start slowly. The first symptom may be a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand or sometimes a foot or the jaw,” Mayo Clinic reported. “Tremor is common in Parkinson’s disease. But the disorder also may cause stiffness, slowing of movement, and trouble with balance that raises the risk of falls.”
According to Mayo Clinic, “Although Parkinson’s disease can’t be cured, medicines may help symptoms get better.”
According to the McKnight Brain Institute, there is evidence that boxing great Muhammad Ali also had Parkinson’s Disease.
