Matt Millen Might Need Heart Transplant Due to Rare Disease Amyloidosis

Former NFL player and executive Matt Millen revealed to Mark Wogenrich of the Morning Call that he will eventually require a heart transplant due to a rare disease called amyloidosis that has caused his heart to operate at 30 percent functionality.

Millen has been undergoing eight months of chemotherapy to combat the disease, which has no cure but can be treated.

Millen plans to continue working as a college football analyst for the Big Ten Network, however.

"While I'm still up on this side, I'll enjoy everything," he told Wogenrich.

"You continue to do the things you love to do, maybe not at 100 percent, but you do them," his wife, Pat Millen, added. "You don't stop or turn into this 'woe is me' type of person. That's not him."

Millen said he had the symptoms of amyloidosis, which include shortness of breath and chest pain, for six months before being diagnosed with the disease. He was able to stop his chemotherapy treatment for about three weeks this winter and "felt his energy levels rise and regained the ability to taste food," but he has since "returned to chemotherapy because his body still produces small amounts of the amyloid."

Millen, 60, spent 12 seasons in the NFL as a linebacker for the Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins, winning four Super Bowls and reaching one Pro Bowl. After his playing career, he served as a broadcaster before the Detroit Lions hired him as team president and general manager in 2001, a role he held until 2008.

His long career and his family are helping Millen keep a positive outlook.

"I look over my life, and it's been a storybook," he said. "I have an awesome family, a phenomenal wife, and you can't ask for more. So you're not supposed to take the good with the bad? When a bump comes up in the road, you deal with it. It's ridiculous to feel sorry for yourself. I'm thankful for what I have, and I'll take what I get."