Ex-NFL Star Chris Johnson Reveals ALS Diagnosis

ALS is a progressive disease that destroys the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord responsible for movement, gradually cutting the link between the brain and the muscles until patients can no longer walk, speak, eat or breathe. Doctors told Johnson his case is "sporadic", meaning it has no inherited cause; according to health authorities, roughly 90 percent of cases fall into this category. Scientists remain uncertain about what triggers the condition, but they are increasingly examining why growing numbers of athletes, military veterans and otherwise healthy men are affected. A 2021 study of more than 19,000 former NFL players found they were nearly four times as likely to develop ALS as the general population, prompting researchers to scrutinise repeated head trauma, alongside smoking and occupational exposure to metals, solvents and pesticides.

Johnson said he hoped that sharing his experience would encourage earlier diagnosis and inspire further research, while challenging assumptions about those who live with the disease. "ALS has changed what my body can do, but it hasn't changed who I am," he said, stressing that his mind remained sharp. He joins a number of public figures who became advocates after their own diagnoses, including the physicist Stephen Hawking, who lived with ALS for more than fifty years before his death in 2018, the actor Eric Dane, and the British rugby star Rob Burrow, who died in 2024. Although the roughly 33,000 Americans estimated to have ALS is projected to exceed 36,000 by 2030, no treatment can yet halt the disease — only ease its symptoms or slow its course.