Former Saints star Steve Gleason – who is battling ALS – has returned home ‘reborn’ after six days in the hospital following a medical emergency.
The 47-year-old has spent the last 13 years fighting the disease, which affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. He currently breathes through a ventilator and communicates using his eyes.
Last week the ex-NFL safety revealed that he had been hit by ‘hurricane ALS’, leaving him on ‘the precipice’.
Gleason – who retired from the NFL in 2008 – was hospitalized and left to ‘celebrate this chance to be alive and breathing.’
On Tuesday night, however, the 47-year-old revealed he was back at home with his family. He posted a series of pictures of them looking up at a full moon.
Former Saints star Steve Gleason – who is battling ALS – has returned home ‘reborn’
The 47-year-old had spent the past six days in the hospital following a medical emergency
‘I’ve been inside for six days, so to be greeted by the full Mooooooooooooooon, the Oaks, and our family… Reborn,’ Gleason wrote on social media.
He previously paid tribute to his support staff after reportedly coming down with from a fever and having extremely low blood pressure.
‘ALS is a hurricane of a disease, and on 9/11 in the midst of Hurricane Francine, power outages, and sketchy phone service, hurricane ALS made landfall,’ he said.
Despite winds of around 100mph – which caused flooding and left around 400,000 people without power – help reached Gleason just as his health was ‘deteriorating’.
The 47-year-old posted pictures from his hospital bed and insisted he was ‘the luckiest man on the face of the earth’.
The former safety played for the New Orleans Saints before retiring from the NFL in 2008
Gleason has paid tribute to his care crew after they pulled him back from ‘the precipice’
Gleason posted pictures from the hospital after he suffered a medical emergency last week
‘Through adversity, we find our Heroes. Some of our care crew have been with me since 2011. They’ve been with us through the darkness and the light.
‘They were with me in the ambulance Wednesday as we navigated the precipice. They changed their daily schedules to stay with me at the hospital.’
He added: ‘Because of their service, I am the luckiest man on the face of the earth. Infinite Gratitude & Love.’
Gleason’s blocked punt following Hurricane Katrina has been immortalized in statue outside the Superdome.
