Former Cleveland Browns star quarterback Bernie Kosar, perhaps still the most beloved player in recent franchise history, said he is suffering from Parkinson's disease and liver failure.
Kosar, 60, said he first noticed some symptoms during the Browns' final home game of 2023 vs. the New York Jets.
"My body gave out on me,'' Kosar told Cleveland Magazine. "I really felt like I wasn't going to make it home from the Jets game. I sucked it up, though, and continued to avoid the doctors until the new year. Then I went into the hospital and got a massive blood transfusion. It was like: 'How are you alive? How are you moving? Because your hemoglobin levels are so low.'''
Kosar said he was also diagnosed with Parkinson's. He is awaiting a liver transplant.
"I wish you could have seen me three months ago,'' he said. "Actually, maybe not, because I looked like death. I felt like death. E. Coli blood poisoning. Heart trouble. And I really thought I needed the liver transplant ASAP. I was in bad shape.''
He added that he intends to keep fighting.
"I strongly believe in the power of positive thinking,'' he said. "For me, it's not just a slogan. I believe that positive energy can be manifested in our brains, and I love to live in the space of positivity. I want to think about things that are helpful. It sounds like I'm getting on a soap box here, but I visualize good health. It's not so much that I'm trying to sell it to myself, or that I'm in denial, as it is choosing to be positive. Because everybody's got something. We've all got health issues to some degree, we all have bumps in the road.''
Kosar, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, was selected by the Browns in the 1985 NFL supplemental draft. He played for the team until 1993, before finishing his career by serving stints with the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins.
