Earl suffers from Spinal Stenosis, a genetic condition that my father also suffers from. The condition isn't altogether uncommon, but physical careers accelerate and exacerbate the effects. Most people who get stenosis aren't adversely effected until later in life since most people don't play football at such a high level. Or, like Stone Cold Steve Austin, are pro wrestlers. That's what ended Stone Cold's career - stenosis. Same with Michael Irvin and Lenny Dykstra I think.
My father played football until his early 20s and was a semi-pro ballplayer (6'8", 315 lb OL and DL) and then became a carpenter. So his career was always physical. In his late 40s he finally had it so bad, he had to stop working and he hasn't worked a day in years.
It's an incredibly painful disease.
What happens as I understand it is that the outer part of the vertabrae deteriorate, so the spine weakens.
That's not the worst part, though.
The body produces calcium to compensate, but that calcium is deposited on the inner part of the vertabrae, so the spinal cords that run inside the vertabrae are constantly being pushed and compressed together more and more as time passes.
In many cases, if it has enough time to work, paralysis results because the spinal cord is simply squeezed so much by the deposits that some of the nerves become blocked or severed.
The only thing the nerves seem to continue to pass is pain.
It hurts.
Watching my father suffer with this is not easy.
As for Earl's case, I have no idea how accelerated it is.
I just know that my dad - even if he was a golfer - would not be able to play a round of golf. He can get around decently with some rest but it hurts him constantly. Walking is a chore so he has to be careful. And he has rigged up a special chair to put the weight on the bottom of his thighs and the flat of his back rather than the base of his spine.
I also don't know what surgery they gave Earl - but my dad had a fusion done The doctors initially thought they would fuse 2 vertabrae. When they got in, however, the damage was much worse than they thought it would be so they had to fuse 4. It limits his movement and does nothing to inhibit the pain, but it strengthens the support his spine gives him.
And Earl Campbell was and is my dad's favorite player - he has only one McFarlane figure on his desk - it's Campbell sporting the Baby Blue of the Oilers and he loves that thing.
When he heard that Campbell had stenosis, dad really felt for him.
I hope they caught Campbell's condition in better condition than they caught my dad's.
But there is no cure and surgeries often cannot target the problems which are the constant, severe pain and the increasingly shrinking opening inside the vertabrae.
And I am by no means a doctor and pardon any inaccuracies in this post - I am just going by my dad's condition.
But I certainly - as does my father - hope that Earl blows through this thing like a 150-lb safety!
