Washington.- Brett Favre has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, the retired NFL quarterback told a U.S. congressional committee today.
Favre, who turns 55 next month, revealed the diagnosis while testifying about a scandal involving millions of dollars in welfare money being wasted in Mississippi.
Favre, who faces no criminal charges, has repaid more than $1 million in speaking fees funded by a state welfare program and was also an investor in a biotechnology company linked to the case. The biotechnology firm has said it was working on concussion treatments.
The former Green Bay Packers player told the commission that he lost his investment in a company that “I believed was going to develop a new concussion medicine that was going to help others.”
“As you can probably understand, although it is already too late for me — I was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s — this is a cause that is close to my heart,” Favre said.
What causes Parkinson’s disease is unknown, and it’s unclear whether Favre’s condition is related to his football career or head injuries. He said in 2022 that he estimated he had suffered “thousands” of concussions in his decades in the NFL.
Favre appeared before a hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee, under Republican control, on reforms to the federal welfare system to prevent fraud.
“The situation that my family and I have had to deal with over the last three years — with certain government officials in Mississippi failing to protect federal funds from acts of fraud and waste and trying to unjustifiably place the blame on me — that situation has tarnished my good name and exceeds the worst I have faced in my football career,” Favre said.
Favre said he was unaware the payments came from welfare funds and noted that his charitable foundation has distributed millions of dollars in aid to poor children in his native Mississippi and in Wisconsin, where he spent most of his career with the Packers.
After playing for the University of Southern Mississippi, Favre began his long career with the Packers, winning Super Bowl XXXI. He was traded in 2008 to the New York Jets before playing his final two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings.
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