NFL Legend Reveals New Health Diagnosis
Movieguide® Contributor
Brett Favre revealed on Tuesday that he’s been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
“The Hall of Fame quarterback appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee while testifying about his alleged misuse of taxpayer money. Favre was accused of exploiting his political connections in order to redirect welfare money meant for families in Mississippi into his own pocket,” Variety reported Sept. 24.
“’Sadly, I also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others, and I’m sure you’ll understand why it’s too late for me because I’ve recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s,’ Favre said in his opening remarks, referencing the drug company Prevacus, whose founder, Jacob VanLandingham, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in July, admitting that he used Mississippi welfare funds to pay off gambling and other debts,” Variety said.
A study conducted by the Parkinson’s Foundation in 2020 discovered that just one concussion can increase the risk of Parkinson’s by 57%. Multiple concussions only increase the likeliness.
ESPN reported, “When asked in a 2018 interview how many concussions he suffered, Favre, 54, said he knows of only ‘three or four’ but believes he could have suffered more than 1,000 concussions during his 20-season NFL career.”
“When you have ringing of the ears, seeing stars, that’s a concussion,” Favre told the TODAY show. “And if that is a concussion, I’ve had hundreds, maybe thousands, throughout my career, which is frightening.”
Favre said at the hearing, “This is also a cause dear to my heart. Recently, the doctor running the company pleaded guilty to taking [public] money for his own use.”
Favre “improperly” received funds from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program for speeches that he never gave. He was also accused of lobbying former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant for TANF to fund a new volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi, which is Favre and his daughter’s alma mater.
“At least $77 million in TANF funds, earmarked for poor families, were diverted to the rich and powerful, according to a 2019 Mississippi state audit. Favre is one of dozens of defendants in a lawsuit seeking to recoup the misappropriated funds,” ESPN said.
He wasn’t criminally charged and has repaid some of the funds, per Variety.
“I was well received pretty much anywhere I went. That changed, understandably so. The fact that I was branded a person who stole welfare money, that’s the lowest of the low,” Favre said. “And it couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Movieguide® reported on another star with Parkinson’s disease, Michael J. Fox:
“The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease through an aggressively funded research agenda and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson’s today,” its website states…
There is currently no cure for the disease. However, through his foundation, Fox has funded over $2 billion in research since 2000…
“When I was diagnosed, it was like a drunk driving test,” Fox said about the research. “Now we can say, ‘You have this protein, and we know that you have Parkinson’s.’ It opens the gates for pharmaceutical companies to come in and say, ‘We’ve got a target and we’re going to dump money into it,’ and when they dump money into it, good things happen.”
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +1