Football
A year ago, Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders announced that he had been through a health scare, but did not provide any details. Today Sanders revealed that he suffered a heart attack.
Sanders is now urging people to get a complete medical checkup to monitor their own heart health.
“Of all things, I don’t know why, that just never entered my mind,” Sanders told CBS Sports. “I’m learning through this process that there aren’t necessarily any warning signs, unless you do what we’re encouraging people to do, which is to go the doctor, get tested for LDLC levels, or bad cholesterol. That’s the only way to find out if you have high cholesterol. It’s not something you’re going to be able to feel. You don’t have to fit a certain physical profile.”
Sanders appears in a documentary, The Making of a Heart Attack, that airs Saturday on A&E.
“It’s really been an education, for me, learning about how frequent this happens all over the U.S.,” Sanders said. “Conversing with these other individuals who are part of this documentary who have very insightful, gripping stories about the journey that they’ve been on. It’s just really amazing. I think it will get a lot of people’s attention.”
An all-time great like Sanders discussing his health problems will definitely get people’s attention, and may save lives if it spurs more people to get the checkups that so many of us put off.
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