{"id":932319,"date":"2026-06-29T22:18:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T22:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/932319\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T22:18:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T22:18:37","slug":"former-nfl-star-chris-johnson-says-hes-been-diagnosed-with-als","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/932319\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NFL star Chris Johnson says he&#8217;s been diagnosed with ALS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/chris-johnson.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"764\" height=\"432\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-v-653d32e2=\"\"\/> article <\/p>\n<p data-v-653d32e2=\"\">FILE-Chris Johnson #28 of the Tennessee Titans looks on during pre-game warm ups prior to playing the Oakland Raiders at O.co Coliseum on November 24, 2013 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Chris Johnson was a dominant running back at one point in his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/nfl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">NFL<\/a> career.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">He ran for 2,000 yards in his second season with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/nfl\/tennessee-titans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Tennessee Titans<\/a> in 2009 on his way to three consecutive Pro Bowl appearances. He was named the 2009 Offensive Player of the Year and made the Pro Bowl in 2009 thanks to his statistical prowess that season.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/link.podtrac.com\/dmwdd_article\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON&#8217;T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Johnson, 40, on Monday announced a new and harrowing battle. He said he was diagnosed with ALS.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">&#8220;T here&#8217;s no history of ALS in my family,&#8221; he said on ABC\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodmorningamerica.com\/culture\/story\/former-nfl-star-chris-johnson-reveals-als-diagnosis-134255671\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">&#8220;Good Morning America.&#8221;<\/a> &#8220;My doctors believe my case is what&#8217;s called sporadic ALS, which is actually how the vast majority of ALS cases happen.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/former-falcons-star-tim-green-refuses-let-als-silence-him-father-son-podcast-creates-lasting-legacy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">FORMER FALCONS STAR TIM GREEN REFUSES TO LET ALS SILENCE HIM AS FATHER-SON PODCAST CREATES LASTING LEGACY<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">&#8220;That&#8217;s one of the reasons this disease can be so shocking. It can happen to someone who never expected it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Johnson said he started to notice a weakness in his right hand and that his grip hadn\u2019t been as strong as it previously was.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">&#8220;It&#8217;s continued to progress much faster than I ever imagined. I want people to understand just how quickly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/steve-gleason-former-nfl-player-battling-als-suffers-accident-following-volleyball-clinic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ALS can attack your body<\/a>,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;Just over a year ago, I was picking up my 7-year-old daughter so she&#8217;d make a wish with her birthday cake. Today, I couldn&#8217;t do that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">There is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/health\/mother-rare-als-touts-miracle-drug-has-stopped-her-disease\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">no known cure for ALS<\/a> \u2013 known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It\u2019s a progressive disease in which the brain loses connection with the muscles, according to the ALS Association. The afflicted slowly lose their ability to walk, talk, eat, dress, write, swallow and, eventually, breathe.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Johnson credited his family, including his wife Brittany, with giving him a &#8220;reason to keep going.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The former running back played in the NFL from 2008 to 2017 with the Titans, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/nfl\/new-york-jets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">New York Jets<\/a> and Arizona Cardinals.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Fox News\u2019 Angelica Stabile contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/former-nfl-star-chris-johnson-says-hes-diagnosed-als\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Get the latest updates on this story at FOXNews.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox10phoenix.com\/tag\/sports\/nfl\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox10phoenix.com\/tag\/health\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Health<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox10phoenix.com\/tag\/sports\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sports<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox10phoenix.com\/tag\/us\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">U.S.<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox10phoenix.com\/tag\/news\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article FILE-Chris Johnson #28 of the Tennessee Titans looks on during pre-game warm ups prior to playing the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":932320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,13604,88,6,9,800],"class_list":["post-932319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-football","tag-health","tag-news","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116835720124292626","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=932319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/932320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=932319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=932319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=932319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}