Pro Football Hall of Fame running back and Southern University coach Marshall Faulk has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
According to ESPN, Faulk, 53, revealed his diagnosis on a podcast Wednesday.
He said that with medication, he is not experiencing “issues” beyond hand rigidity, which he believes hasn’t gotten worse in the year and a half he has been dealing with the disease, and “little tremors.”
Faulk told Dr. Sandeep Thakkar on the show “The Caring Neurologist” that in discussing his illness, “I want to help as many people as I can.”
Faulk played more than 10 seasons in the NFL, first with the Indianapolis Colts and then with the St. Louis Rams, with whom he won a Super Bowl and was named Most Valuable Player. After major knee surgery, he retired in 2007.
Four years later, in his first year of eligibility, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Faulk was an assistant on Deion Sanders’ Colorado coaching staff before taking the head coaching job at Southern in November. He has led the team to a 3-4 record this season.
Faulk said he gets physicals twice a year and noticed that after playing golf, he would experience “rigidity” in his hands.
“I just thought it was normal nerves when putting and stuff like that,” he said. “But it started to be times where … I was playing, but I wasn’t in a match, and it would still do that. And I was like, ‘Wow, is that something — is that normal?’ And the doctor was — he literally was like, ‘You need to go get checked.'”
Faulk said he doesn’t look at it as a terminal condition. He recalled being at a dinner with boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who had Parkinson’s, and coming away from the interaction believing, “He’s all there.”
“So, knowing that, I didn’t look at it like if I got a diagnosis, life was going to end,” Faulk said. “I treat it like — I’ve had a bunch of surgeries on my right knee. There’s some parts in it that aren’t mine, that aren’t original. My back, you know, it hurts every once in a while.
“It’s something you live with. It’s not to where it’s a detriment to your livelihood. Now, if you don’t take care of it, there’s an opportunity for that to be. But you have to take care of it.”
Faulk also brought up Michael J. Fox, the accomplished actor who also has Parkinson’s, as someone who has managed the disease for decades.
Faulk said he has experienced no cognitive decline and feels “clear of thought.”
Faulk also was a standout running back in college at San Diego State, where he was a two-time All-American.
Culled from ESPN
