{"id":18262,"date":"2018-12-12T10:00:56","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T10:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2018\/12\/12\/former-nfl-player-tim-green-has-a-new-opponent-als-2\/"},"modified":"2018-12-12T10:00:56","modified_gmt":"2018-12-12T10:00:56","slug":"former-nfl-player-tim-green-has-a-new-opponent-als-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/former-nfl-player-tim-green-has-a-new-opponent-als-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NFL Player Tim Green Has A New Opponent \u2014 ALS"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tom Goldman<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Tim Green, former NFL player and a former NPR commentator, has ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Green believes football gave him the disease.<\/p>\n

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Heather Ainsworth for NPR<\/p>\n

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Heather Ainsworth for NPR<\/p>\n

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Tim Green first noticed the symptoms about five years ago.<\/p>\n

The former NFL player, whose strength was a job requirement, suddenly found his hands weren’t strong enough to use a nail clipper. His words didn’t come out as fast as he was thinking them.<\/p>\n

“I’m a strange guy,” Tim says. “I get something in my head and I can just run with it. I was really afraid I had ALS. But there was enough doubt that I said ‘alright, I don’t. Let’s not talk about it. Let’s not do anything.'”<\/p>\n

Denying pain and injury had been a survival strategy in football.<\/p>\n

“I was well trained in that verse,” he says.<\/p>\n

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\n A Falcons game ball that was presented to Green in 1991.<\/p>\n

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Heather Ainsworth for NPR<\/p>\n

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Heather Ainsworth for NPR<\/p>\n

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But a diagnosis in 2016 made denial impossible. Doctors confirmed that Tim, also a former NPR commentator, had ALS, known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The degenerative illness attacks the body’s motor nerve cells, weakening muscles in the arms and legs, and the muscles that control speech, swallowing and breathing.<\/p>\n

Tim tried to keep it private \u2014 he didn’t want people feeling sorry for him.<\/p>\n