Tedy Bruschi has played in the NFL for a while. He's been through preseason games, regular season games, Super Bowls, and Pro Bowls.
But nothing quite like this.
Granted this is Bruschi's fifth Super Bowl. There was the loss to the Packers in 1996, and then the championships in 2001, 2003, and 2004.
This one, however, will be a little bit different.
It's Bruschi's "biggest game" since suffering a stroke.
On February 15th, 2005, Tedy Bruschi awoke with numbness in the left side of his body, a lack of balance, and the beginning stages of a headache.
Convinced it was nothing, Bruschi let the symptoms simmer, until a call to his father-in-law convinced he and his wife Heidi that something was seriously wrong with the Patriots linebacker.
Before calling 911, however, the symptoms began to get worse, as Bruschi's headache increased in its intensity, and his vision started to blur.
After a thirty-five minute ambulance ride to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston with his wife, and extensive hospital testing, it was determined that Tedy Bruschi had suffered a stroke.
A player who had gone head-to-head with 300-pound lineman was now at odds with himself; with his own health.
It was determined that Bruschi's stroke had been caused by a blood clot. A clot that was caused, by a "hole in his heart."
A condition that had been with him (unknown to anyone) since his birth, the hole (or Patent Foramen Ovale, or PFO) had opened between two ventricles, allowing blood to pass between then. A clot then formed, and traveled up to the right side of his brain. Fortunately for Bruschi, the clot never reached a larger trouble-area in his brain.
If that had happened, there's no telling what damage could have been done.
Bruschi returned home, where he would await surgery to mend his heart.
Until the surgery, Bruschi's life became a whirlwind of activity: awaiting his nurse (Debbie Reynolds) to administer his blood-thinners, injections of Framin (a drug that prevents clotting, injected into the stomach), and dealing with the business of his retirement from the National Football League.
On March 15th of that same year, Bruschi underwent surgery to repair his PFO. Through the femoral artery, a small device (described in his book as being "as thin as pencil lead") was sent through the bloodstream up to Bruschi's heart. Upon being released over the PFO, the device expanded to the size of a nickel, and the heart was allowed to heal overtop of the device sealing, the hole.
All that was left was the rehab.
The rehab process had actually begun in February, prior to Bruschi's surgery, with Anne Jacobson. Despite Bruschi's struggles and his pent-up frustration, Anne always found an improvement in Bruschi's performance to key on.
From learning to walk again, to running, to improving his motor skills, Anne always encouraged Tedy to keep working for it, to keep striving to get himself healthy again.
Bruschi had the ultimate goal of returning to a "normal life." Not the "normal life" of an NFL player, but the normal life of a father and husband.
4 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Sean Crowe about 1 year ago
Great article! Love Tedy Bruschi....
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Michael Whittenberg about 1 year ago
Yeah I'm go to have to agree with Sean on this one. Nice article. Not really a Bruschi fan, but props goes to him for being a warrior and coming back.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
You're right, after the Giants win they should honor Bruschi for the perseverence to come out and play.
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Roy MacB about 1 year ago
Yep,,he's at the top of the heap and not once did he ever bitch and complain like some of the wimps in this league,,or,,take pain pills so he could make it through a season . He and Junior are the very best in the game and just like all the Pat's players,, you never hear a word about negative stuff ever or a bad word about any of the teams they have beat ,,before or after the games !!
********************************* GO PATS GO *************************************
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