12/21/24
February 18, 2005
Bruschi suffers stroke. : New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi was hospitalized Wednesday for persistent headaches, whose cause turned out to be a mild stroke.
Get well soon, Cold Beer!
posted by lil_brown_bat to football at 09:43 AM - 13 comments
Bruschi is my favorite player on the Patriots. I would hate to see him leave the game because I love watching him play, but I would hate it even more if he was risking his life just so I could watch him play. Know what I mean? Hope that he has a quick recovery and that he can continue playing football without risking a more serious stroke. As a sidenote, during the Superbowl, they showed a clearly overjoyed Burschi playing with his boys on the field in Jacksonville. It spoke volumes about him as a father and a person.
posted by Joey Michaels at 02:48 PM on February 18, 2005
He's great, but I hope that he takes the safe route. I just can't stop thinking of Reggie Lewis looking for a doctor who would tell him he was fine to play. If his doctors tell him he can't go on, I hope that he doesn;t go looking for a Dr. Nick to tell him different.
posted by Mayor Curley at 04:30 PM on February 18, 2005
Good Christ Teddy - retire. Do not risk it. There is a legacy of broken men who did.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 04:54 PM on February 18, 2005
He was released from Mass General about 2 hours ago. He gave a quick wave to the cameras, a smile and went into his truck with his wife. Had a bit of a limp, but it was nice to see the smile. I hope he puts his personal health and his family first. Love to see him playing for the Patriots again, but definitely don't want to see another Reggie Lewis type situation again. Hope he can stay with the Patriots organization if he doesn't play again.
posted by jerseygirl at 05:39 PM on February 18, 2005
There is a message here for everybody-Athletes are are like the rest of us- fragile-- My thought an dprayers go out to him and his family!
posted by daddisamm at 08:26 PM on February 18, 2005
Comparing this health situation to Reggie Lewis is way over the top.
posted by yerfatma at 10:00 PM on February 18, 2005
sad to hear about bruschi.after a good season with the pats.but i think Jerseygirl.u mean REGGIE WHITE.unless u are talking about another reggie.
posted by USC dynasty at 06:28 AM on February 19, 2005
Quickly... and yes it's WAY more than where we are at with Bruschi right now, but there's a point to be made. Lewis collapsed a couple times. A couple teams of doctors assembled evaluated him. A team led by Dr. Mudge out of Brighams and Womens in Boston, a team out on the west coast, and a virtual "dreamteam" of cardiologists from Boston. Dr. Mudge out of Boston, said Lewis was fine. Just had a fainting condition, but his heart was fine. The Dreamteam of doctors thought Lewis had an ventricular arrythmia. Meanwhile, the other team in California found a heart abnormality. Lewis and the Celtics went with Mudge's evaluation that Reggie was fine and able to resume normal basketball activities. Reggie Lewis later died of a heart attack while working out. After that, there are allegations of cocaine use and a series of lawsuits that just make the whole thing sad and ugly. The point I, and maybe MC, was alluding to was no one wants to see Bruschi come back if he shouldn't be. The player and the team need to think about his health above and beyond keeping him on the field. That's all. May be a bit excessive in comparison, but you just don't want to see another Reggie Lewis situation happen.
posted by jerseygirl at 08:25 AM on February 19, 2005
What jerseygirl said. I remember it vividly; the findings of the "dream team" were discussed at length in the Boston newspapers. I remember thinking at the time that this was the case of an individual shopping until he found the opinion he wanted: a not-uncommon reaction with medical problems, and one that not uncommonly leads to tragedy. Cocaine use, I think, mox nix to that aspect of the situation: it doesn't matter if the cause of the problem is licit, illicit, chemical or congenital, it's all in how you deal with it.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:27 AM on February 19, 2005
Fair enough. But I'm unwilling to see it as analagous until Bruschi is told he's in danger and then goes venue shopping for doctors who will vet his return.
posted by yerfatma at 10:30 AM on February 19, 2005
Comparing this health situation to Reggie Lewis is way over the top. The idea that Reggie Lewis, Hank Gathers, or Daryl Kile would drop dead in their prime were way over the top too. Ten years ago, a coworker and friend dropped dead of an undiagnosed heart condition on the basketball court practicing for our next game. He was 27. Never saw it coming. Bruschi's lucky to have found out about this and survived. I think the comparison to Lewis is fitting, because in both cases a person who has every reason in the world to believe in his own indestructibility was proven incorrect.
posted by rcade at 10:37 AM on February 19, 2005
Which means it's also analgous to the time Superman got killed.
posted by yerfatma at 07:28 PM on February 19, 2005
I can't recall another NFL player suffering from a stroke like this during his playing career. You'd think they might occur sometimes, given the way these athletes play pinball with their heads. If I were Bruschi, considering what I had accomplished and my young kids at home, I'd think pretty seriously about hanging it up.