It’s a topic being discussed more and more around the National Football League, former players being denied medical benefits for injuries they claim happened when they played in the league.
Players like Brian Demarco, who played for Jacksonville and Cincinnati, can barely walk. He has been home homeless on 3-different occasions, and is suffering from a cracked back and nerve damage, but has yet to have a claim opened.
“This is corporate corruption at its greatest, says Demarco. “This is larger than Enron. Men are dying. People are dying. Understand that, they're dying because of this.”
So many players, who are injured here on the field of play, eventually need help, long after their NFL medical insurance runs out. And that's the issue as more and more players are spending all of their money on medical issues and eventually have to file for bankruptcy.
The NFL players association released a statement this week, saying "The individuals making complaints about the decisions regarding their lack of eligibility, were evaluated on the merits, and professionally respected neutral physicians found, in effect, that their alleged disability were not caused by injuries sustained playing football."
Former Cowboys Fullback Daryl Johnston has become a supporter of their cause. “When you go to a doctor, that is hand selected by the NFL in your host city, your not to bring in an MRI, your not allowed to bring in an X-Ray, you can bring in text, they don't want to talk to your doctor, they don't want any input from your trainers, they don't really want to know your injury history throughout your career, what we as players supposed to think of a system that's run that way,” Johnston explains. ”The system is broke, and what we have to do is start moving forward and get it fixed as soon as possible, and to do that we are going to need the NFL and the NFLPA to get this done.”
Johnston believes NFL Commissioner Roger Goodel is the right man at the right time to help the former players out, but it will take time, time that some of the players may not have.
Former NFL player Dave Pear, a pro bowl nose guard for Tampa Bay and Oakland, gets emotional when he talks about the leagues lack of support for their former players. “What the NFL does is,” he says, “they try to tell you what's wrong with us, that we're whiners, and we're crying and complaining. I'm crying for my family, I'm crying for me, those are the losers here, your family.”
Former NFL player and Coach Mike Ditka is responsible for setting up the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund which is helping their cause. The website, which takes donations, is Gridirongreats.org. It’s a nonprofit humanitarian organization which is overseen by a board of directors consisting of players who are advocates of retired NFL players’ rights and also include Gale Sayers, Joe DeLamielleure, Harry Carson, Willie Davis, and Tom Nowatzke.
The organization provides immediate aid, and support services, to retired NFL players who are in dire need due to lack of adequate disability, medical, and other issues.
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