This summer, Ahman Green, the Green Bay Packers’ all-time leading rusher, disclosed his early-onset Parkinson’s disease diagnosis while appearing on Tyler Dunne’s “Go Long” podcast, and former Tennessee Titans star running back Chris Johnson revealed his ALS diagnosis to Michael Strahan on Good Morning America.
Marshall Faulk observed the media coverage of his retired NFL brethren and felt compelled to share his own Parkinson’s diagnosis.
“I’m one of the lucky ones,” Faulk said on “The Caring Neurologist” with Dr. Sandeep Thakkar. “I spoke with a couple of guys who played NFL ball, and they told me about some of the symptoms and things that they had that they thought was just football-related — that it didn’t relate to Parkinson’s in any manner. They wish, in those early stages, if they would have maybe just knew a little earlier that they would be in better shape. As I started to do my research, realizing that the earlier you catch it, the better chance you have at living a better quality of life.”
Faulk, 53, said that his goal is to “help as many people as I can” by sharing his story.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee said he first noticed rigidity in his hand while playing golf, which he initially dismissed as “normal nerves when putting and stuff like that.” At one of his regular physicals, Faulk told his doctor he’d experienced hand symptoms outside of golf. Faulk’s doctor implored him “to go get checked,” leading to the diagnosis.
“In any phase of life, whenever you break through a barrier or you find some things out, what you want to do with that information is pass it on to the next generation to make sure that they have it better — that they know more,” Faulk said. “And you’re doing the ‘leave this world in a better place than it was when I got here.’ That’s what we want to do. So, in this case, it’s no different.”
“I continue to mentor and coach young men now,” Faulk added. “I helped young guys come into the NFL and transition from college. This falls into the same arena with guys that’s going to be retiring. Whether you have the little tremors in your hand or you start to get the rigidity, and you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s arthritis.’ And then, you hear it might not be; it could be something else. Like I did, you go get checked, and you go find out.”
Faulk relayed his mindset as taking solace in Parkinson’s diagnosis not being “something that’s terminal,” and he plans to learn to live with it. “I haven’t had many episodes,” Faulk said, noting. “I appear to be fine.”
After starring for the Indianapolis Colts and the then-St. Louis Rams from 1994 to 2005, Faulk retired from the NFL in March 2007. By November, Faulk joined NFL Network as an analyst. In 2017, NFL Network suspended Faulk, Ike Taylor, and Heath Evans in the wake of a sexual harassment lawsuit, effectively ending Faulk’s tenure. Faulk is now the head coach at Southern University.
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