"It was October 2007peak pigskin season for all who celebratebut Ryan Clark, then a safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers, was crying in the bathroom of a hospital room. Daggers in his side, 104 degree fever. Clark carries the trait for sickle cell anemia, something he'd always known, but he had just played in Denver and the altitude lit his condition ablaze."
"How bad was it? Clark wasn't just ready to die; in that bathroom, he'd made peace with it. If it's time, I'm comfortable with that, Clark thought. In walked the surgeon ... and he looked exactly like Tom Brady, the nemesis of all defensive backs. Of course he did. It figures, Clark said to himself, that if I die, the dude treating me would look like this man."
"Turns out the Brady look-alike brought a very TB12 approach to health care: success at all costs. He told Clark bluntly that he was taking out his spleen. I don't even care what the affliction is, Clark remembers him saying. That moment obviously saved my life, Clark tells me over Zoom, nearly 18 years later. Steelers fans know the next chapter by heart: Clark won Super Bowl XLIII in 2009, hoisting the Lombardi Trophy alongside Troy Polamalu."
Ryan Clark suffered a life-threatening sickle-cell episode in October 2007 after playing in Denver, experiencing a 104°F fever and severe pain as altitude aggravated his condition. An emergency splenectomy performed by a surgeon halted the crisis and ultimately saved his life. Clark recovered, continued his NFL career, won Super Bowl XLIII in 2009, and retired in 2015 after 13 seasons. After retirement, Clark transitioned into media work with multiple ESPN roles and cohosting The Pivot Podcast with Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder. Clark plans to scale The Pivot into a larger media endeavor with additional podcasts while managing a heavy workload.
Read at www.esquire.com
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