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Running back Chris Johnson is an NFL legend.
Now, he is fighting for his like.
Monday morning, the retired professional athlete went on GMA and disclosed his ALS diagnosis.
Doctors told him that medication may prolong his life by months, not years. But he’s not giving up.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a terminal neurodegenerative disease
Appearing on Good Morning America on Monday, June 29, Johnson informed ABC viewers that he has been diagnosed with ALS.
Doctors told him that he has the ailment, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2025. He was only 39 years old.
“There’s no history of ALS in my family,” he shared, using a text-to-speech device to communicate.
“My doctors believe my case is what’s called sporadic ALS,” he revealed.
Johnson elaborated: “Which is actually how the vast majority of ALS cases happen.”
“That’s one of the reasons this disease can be so shocking,” Johnson expressed.
He added: “It can happen to someone who never expected it.”
Johnson went on to share how he discovered his earliest symptoms — symptoms that, given his extraordinary career, he never expected.
“I first noticed weakness in my right hand,” he recalled.
“At first, it was little things like my grip didn’t feel right,” Johnson elaborated, “and I wasn’t as strong as I’ve always been.”
ALS has not been conclusively linked to physical activity or injury
At first, Johnson shared, wife Brittany Johnson suspected that his years as a football player were the culprit.
We all know that many ailments result from the rough lives as a professional athlete, particularly traumatic brain injuries. Symptoms can creep up on people.
“I thought because of football and, you know, his career, that it had to be something with that,” Brittany admitted to Michael Strahan.
She continued: “Maybe … a pinched nerve or something along those lines, but never ALS.”
A pinched nerve likely has a solution. ALS has only treatment to slow the progression of symptoms, but not to stop them. Johnson will fight, but the prognosis is that he will likely die within years (at most), not decades.
Johnson told GMA viewers that the ALS diagnosis was nothing short of jarring.
The doctor who diagnosed him advised him that medication may prolong his life by a measure of months.
Johnson was then advised to “get our affairs in order” before she becomes a widow and a single parent to their four children.
“Honestly, I don’t know if you ever fully process it,” he admitted. “At first, you’re in shock.”
Johnson affirmed: “Then you realize you have two choices. You can give up, or you can fight. I chose to fight.”
We wish him and his family the best of luck.
