At 31-years-old, Tim Shaw's life will never be what it once was when he played professional football. He was on the Tennessee Titans roster as of 2013, but almost a year after he was cut, Shaw revealed that he is suffering from ALS.
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No one knows if Shaw's ALS was caused from the head trauma related with playing football, but even if it did, the former linebacker has no regrets about playing.
"I don't blame football at all," Shaw told Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. "No regrets about how I played or anything like that. The game has given me so much. It's given me so much opportunity, so much experience. Relationships. It's taught me a million lessons. It's really helped make me who I am."
Even though he doesn't know if football played a role in his debilitating disease, he hopes the NFL does research to whether or not playing the game leads to a higher risk of developing ALS.
"I have no idea [what role football played]," Shaw said. "I want to know. I want the current players and people who put their kids in football, I want them to know whether ALS is a possible side effect of football, so I think research needs to be done. I think the NFL needs to step up and do some fund-raising for head trauma. Maybe it's too close to home for them, but they need to step up and say, 'OK, let's do head trauma awareness month maybe instead of breast cancer awareness.' Let's do something that makes sense for the game of football. And what a powerful vehicle that would be to raise funds."
It's the least the NFL can do for Shaw. I really hope the league takes it upon itself to do research for the future of its players.
