Former NFL Player Tim Green Has A New Opponent — ALS
Tim Green first noticed the symptoms about five years ago.
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.
"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.'"
Denying pain and injury had been a survival strategy in football.
"I was well trained in that verse," he says.
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.
Tim tried to keep it private — he didn't want people feeling sorry for him.
But he says, "I got to a point where I couldn't hide it
