 I grew up in a small town football and basketball my first loves we came too short to play basketball but just big enough to play football had a great career drafted by Atlanta Falcons a couple of years with the Tennessee Titans retired with the New England Patriots when I retired I didn't want to lift another weight didn't want to work out anymore sat down I gained about a hundred pounds and started experiencing a little health issues I'm highly arthritic prediabetic my blood pressure has gone up my body just kept aching more my knees kept aching more my back kept aching more despite his mounting health problems algae like many other former pro athletes didn't seek help I was afraid to go to the doctors and get checked up because I didn't want to know what was happening to my body you know that fear of the unknown food was his comfort and now he's not moving at all now he's not burning any any calories and not all the weight just starts going up and up and up and up 350 375 395 and it's like man this gotta stop you know I just don't want to be taking medicine for the rest of my life I remember several years ago the NFL rolled out a program for the former players to announce their draft pick and algae was one of our first players to ever do that maybe and he announced the pick and night that he should have been really proud he was totally insecure about the feedback he got from how big he looked on stage and as his friend that was really heartbreaking for me to see this guy that I've known to be so full of life and literally one of the best at his position that's ever played the game and all that is leading to him being not the happy go lucky person that I knew and the person that really wants to enjoy life I missed a lot of vacations you know with my family because I just didn't want to hop on a ride I didn't want to take my shirt off at the beach I just rented to stay at home and that's just not the way to live especially when you had a career that was successful built the life that I wanted to live just wasn't there physically or mentally it felt to me like he was that guy that was drowning in an issue and didn't really know how to how to help himself before he would kind of get up and he just kind of mosey his way through the morning and not really have a purpose and then years down the road also and you don't feel good and everything's falling apart you have to try to get back there and it's really hard some people really struggle you know that's that's been one of the things I've noticed with a lot of guys is that you know when they move on from playing in the NFL there's a void we got paid to work out was really what it came down to our whole life was working out running lifting weights staying in shape conditioning and you lose it and you lose it relatively quickly and I know how you went through that transition where it was really beat up wanted to decompress and then you have to figure out how you work out as a civilian you don't have training table you don't have the protein shake area and you don't have so many things right at your fingertips you're like I forget it I'll just eat that because it's right there whatever it is donut health problems among retired NFL players are extraordinarily common multiple surveys involving thousands of former players find they often experience significant weight gain during retirement they also report higher than average accounts of chronic pain hypertension blood sugar irregularities sleep apnea algae crumpler had all of these symptoms and his most critical health metrics were all in the red zone it's red red red red red and I'm like okay this isn't good my body just kept aching more my knees kept aching more my back kept aching more and I just kept gaining weight all players gonna have transitional issues because once you leave the game of football it's nothing else that you could do in life that gives you the same high since 2016 Emory health care the state's largest academic health care system has been the official team health care provider of the Atlanta Falcons Emory health care physicians serve as the head team physician for the Falcons and provide care to their players both on and off the field Emory health care and the Falcons were looking for ways to also help former players having health struggles that's when they had an idea if we could get Emory health care to get involved and bring expertise to creating a case study with him and and create this documentary that that goes through the process then when we got to the other side not only would we have a story to tell but I truly believe we could change his life and everybody doing I'm algae the journey begins when algae meets his care team one of the things you know about medicine nowadays is it is a team sport and that's why we've got a number of people from different specialties that we've invited to participate and what our goal today is for everyone to meet each other get a sense of your story a little bit about your medical history and then after that we'll go offline and try and make a plan I think it's safe to say that if algae had not made a decision to take control of his own health sought the partnership and teamwork with Emory health care that undoubtedly he would have been taken from us at far too young an age I'll do really well as long as we have a plan in place he is very competitive so when he sets a goal he's gonna hit that goal because he doesn't want to tell anybody he didn't reach something he was going for algae's journey starts with the visit to an Emory health care primary care physician for a full checkup in analysis understand your 40 40 years old and you're here for us to get you back in shape if you can as more than the average amount of my Lajana for a 40 year old man as we go forward the specialist will get more narrow and deeper in their focus I do endocrinology so my piece in this was to address some of the metabolic issues the majority of the country is overweight with that weight gain comes cardiovascular risk risk for things like abnormal glucose abnormal lipids high blood pressure to help algae manages appetite and lower his diabetes risk Dr. Jacobs prescribed Saxenda a self-injected medication and algae is trained on how to use the injector estimates are that over 80 million of us have abnormal glucose that's pre diabetes if you then add the approximate 30 million patients in this country with diabetes you're at 110 million it's a third of the country he's on the right path was his lifestyle modification we wanted to keep up with the diet normally keep up with the exercise as he's able probably testing my strength not yours algae visits an orthopedic sports medicine specialist who has helped many pro athletes recover from injury have you started an exercise program yet okay have you needs to bother you more since you started like a lot of former athletes especially NFL player he suffered a lot of abuse to his body during his playing days multiple surgeries both of his knees have been operated on multiple times his shoulders have been operated on on both sides I bent forward towards your toes kind of far down as comfortable traditional orthopedic treatment would say well if you don't get better therapy and medications or a cortisone shot you just have to suffer until you have a knee replacement done eventually but obviously someone algae's age is way too young to consider that we have found other options to kind of delay or hopefully prevent some of these surgeries next up for algae is a thorough psychiatric exam his wife Jen has also been asked to attend the session the conversation was held behind closed doors without cameras present to give the couple privacy you know it's not easy for me to seek help or to you know reach out to Emory doctors and say hey can you help me I think algae is is very motivated at this point to to make a change one of the things that we're working on is to engage people in his social network to be sort of cheerleaders for him to move forward algae has joined a kickboxing gym near his home and works out regularly with his former teammate and friend Chris Crocker who faced his own transition issues upon retirement I didn't want to do hardcore workouts and I mean I didn't want to really run a lot but I just had to figure it out and this is really work for both of us algae has the fastest hands on the gym it's incredible man his size is that quick I got a long way to go but I know that so I'm not frustrated by that good to see you ready to do this I'm ready all right let's get you back already nearly 60 pounds lighter algae goes to visit sports cardiologist Dr. Jonathan Kim for a demanding but very important heart stress test we wish everybody in the general population would have this type of drive and motivation and unfortunately a lot of individuals can't do that or don't want to and that's when they get into trouble later on with true cardiac disease and heart attacks and congestive heart failure true diabetes stroke all of these bad things his VO to which stands for oxygen and consumption is above normal his heart rate zones which for somebody in the general population would be lower or higher than average but I think this is really good they've been more than accommodating and answered all the questions that I've had coronavirus crisis is changing so fast that these maps can't keep up the great shutdown of 2020 is underway the thing with COVID being in quarantine I'm walking every day and my knee flares up I mean it flares up really bad where I just can't I can't do anything and I'm afraid to call Emory because I'm seeing all these people and the ER is a fool and I'm thinking that COVID's the only thing that's going on in the world but you know you still need medical care and I called Dr. Mountner and he was able to get me in and and get some fluid off from my knee and without those previous relationships I'm not sure that would have happened that news study on weight gain during the pandemic researchers at the University of California San Francisco finding the people have gained an average of one and a half pounds every month many people gained weight during the pandemic algae among them I gained about 30 pounds at one point we were cleaning out our pantry and so yeah thankfully I wasn't I wasn't drinking during COVID now a lot more balanced meals I got that 30 pounds is gone it's been gone crucially the support of algae's family and social circle was there when he needed it to get through his COVID setback and beyond you know we're on a group chat it's a few of the former teammates and we post a lot of our workouts he's posting something every day we've reached out to each other at different moments and if we feel like either of us needs something it's great to have that not only physically but mentally no matter what happens we're gonna always stay connected we're gonna be there for each other and support each other algae's wife Jen says the way Emory healthcare physicians approached algae's care was as important as the medical plan itself they didn't try to give him crazy amounts of information to scare him into doing what was right or to make changes they just gave him all the information let him see it they told him these are the changes we want you to make and they kept checking up on him and he really felt like he could talk to them and let them know if things weren't going right or if he was frustrated now more than four years into his journey algae is much more fit and in control of his health and his outlook on life more importantly his dangerous health metrics have all turned from red to green don't have any red now doesn't mean I need to stop but don't have any red now to say I'm shocked will be an understatement of what has happened I feel like he's the guy that was playing like that guy's back and to see someone living their life and being happy and back where like that's what life's about I mean especially when that's someone you care about there are plenty of players that have algae's issues that he was dealing with and I just wish they would find partners like Emory that could help them cross over into what is a normal life and not the easiest transition for sure I hope that people will look at this and say if he could do this I could the only thing you learn about your health when you're playing is whether you're healthy enough to play or you're not healthy enough to play and now it's just you and your family so find out what's going on with your body I'm glad I'm committed to a routine at this point in my life that my health matters I continue to work I know that