Ex-NFL Player Chris Johnson Shares ALS Diagnosis

ESPN reported this week former NFL running back Chris Johnson announced he has ALS. Johnson, 40, made the announcement on ABC’s Good Morning America.

Johnson told Michael Strahan—a fellow ex-NFL player—he was diagnosed last year.

“There’s no history of ALS in my family,” Johnson said during his interview on Monday. “My doctors believe my case is what’s called sporadic ALS, which is actually how the vast majority of ALS cases happen.”

He continued: “That’s one of the reasons this disease can be so shocking. It can happen to someone who never expected it.”

Johnson spoke with Strahan using eye-gaze technology and a speech synthesizer based on recordings of his voice. He told Strahan he can’t “ever fully process” his diagnosis, adding he was “in shock” upon first learning of the news. “Then, you realize you have two choices. You can give up, or you can fight. I chose to fight,” Johnson said.

Johnson entered the NFL in 2008 as the 24th overall selection of the Tennessee Titans, rushing for over a thousand yards in each of his first six seasons and eclipsing the vaunted 2000-yard mark in 2009 (2006 on 358 carries). After leaving Tennessee, he played for the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals before ending his career in 2017.