Mark Bavaro, former New York Giants tight end and two-time Super Bowl champion, recently opened up about his battle with long-term Covid in an excerpt from Gary Myers' book, "Once A Giant." The excerpt details Bavaro's struggle with anxiety, paranoia, dizziness, fogginess, and headaches that left him contemplating suicide.
"You think about it," he said. "You're like, 'What the f-k?' You're on top of a burning building and how long can you stay there until you jump off? You come to understand a lot about other people and what they go through."
Bavaro's symptoms were so debilitating that he had rows of prescription bottles on his kitchen island and in his cabinets. He had enough pills to take care of an entire football team. He suffered for six months until doctors found the right combination of medication to settle him down.
This tough-as-nails football player, who symbolized the heart of blue-collar New Yorkers in his playing days, was overwhelmed by a disease that was new even to the pain-wracked fraternity of former football players.
He fought hard against Covid
Bavaro's battle with Covid made him think about his former teammates who were diagnosed with CTE, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head injuries. Dave Duerson, Waters, and Seau all were diagnosed with CTE. They all died by suicide, and their families donated their brains for CTE research and evaluation.
In the depths of his battle with Covid, he started to think about it. Bavaro never planned how to end his life, but "you think of ways. How does one die?" he said. "I was praying for a heart attack."
Despite his struggles, Bavaro consciously decided to stick around for his wife Susan and his adult children. He had to choose between listening to his emotional side or his intellectual side.
"I had to stick to my intellectual side and say, 'Your life is good,'" he said. "Before I got sick, I was happy as a clam playing golf and hanging out. I was not making a ton of money but was making enough to get by. The kids were great, the wife's great, everything was great. There was nothing to be depressed about."
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