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Brett Favre account TMZ Sports He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in early January… after he began having trouble using his right arm and hand.
The Hall of Fame quarterback made the revelations to us in late August while discussing various football topics. At the time, he requested that we not report on it, but after he made his diagnosis public during a hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday — he gave us permission to publish it.
09/25/24
Favre explained that he first had an inkling something was up when his dominant arm — which he used to throw 508 touchdown passes in his 20-year NFL career — got “stuck.”
He said he would put his head down, forget about it… but seconds later “she would be there again.”
He also revealed that although he had no problems with strength, when he went to use a screwdriver, he couldn’t hold it steady with one hand.
But he said what prompted him to go to the doctor was his difficulty getting his throwing arm through the hole in his jacket.
“I felt my arm,” he said, “the strength was there, but I couldn’t guide it. And that was the most frustrating thing.”
Favre said that after he was formally diagnosed with the degenerative nervous system disorder, five experts told him they believed it was likely due to the blows he took while signaling in the NFL.
“They all said the same thing,” he said. “‘If it’s not in your family’ — and there’s none on either side of my family — ‘then the first thing we look at is head trauma.’ Well, hell, I wrote the book on head trauma.”
Favre — who once said he may have suffered more than 1,000 concussions in his career — seemed optimistic about his prognosis … telling us that one of his doctors said most people are much more devastated by the disease when they find out they have it.
On Tuesday night — hours after the world learned of his illness — he issued a statement on his social media page expressing gratitude to all those who had been praying for him.
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“My wife, family and friends have supported me and I want to thank them for being there for me,” he wrote. “To my fans and well-wishers — thank you all for the love.🙏”