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Bruschi Is Living Proof

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By ROY CUMMINGS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 2, 2008

Updated: 02/01/2008 11:44 pm

PHOENIX - If you step away from it for a minute and look at it through a different lens, you begin to see how trivial it really is.

Beat the Giants? Yeah, sure, Tedy Bruschi can help the Patriots beat the Giants. Why not? He beat death, didn't he?

"I don't think anyone has ever said, 'I played professional football again after having a stroke,'" Bruschi said. "It's something you would never even comprehend."

It's something most people wouldn't even attempt. Bruschi, obviously, is different. Much different.

He was 31 when he had the stroke, when an endless headache morphed into a numbness up and down the left side of his body that soon took his eyesight as well.

After months of rehabilitation, he eventually was given clearance to give football another try, first by his doctors, then by his wife, who probably saved his life by calling 911 the day the numbness and blindness set in.

There also was the calling, this little voice inside Bruschi's head that grew louder as he worked through his rehab, a voice that kept telling him he could save other stroke victims if he could get back on that field.

So here he is, nearly three years removed from that day in February 2005 when he came home from the Pro Bowl feeling out of sorts, back on the Super Bowl stage, living proof that even stroke victims can regain normalcy.

"Just by being here and doing what I do I've proved that you can come back and do whatever you want to do, because who would ever think someone could come back and play professional football after having a stroke," Bruschi said.

"To go back out there and wrestle with 300-pound men and put a helmet on and bang around and still be OK, it says that it's OK, you can experience a full recovery from this."

Full, indeed. It's not like Bruschi is just hanging on. He remains one of the Patriots' two starting inside linebackers. And you have to check his medical records to find proof of the stroke, because it doesn't show up on the field.

Sure, he's lost some speed. At 34, who hasn't? Like Derrick Brooks, Bruschi makes up for what he has lost athletically by leaning on uncanny instincts and 12 years of experience.

And from the looks of things, he is leaning on those traits well. He led the Patriots in overall tackles this year with 99 and in solo tackles with 69. Talk about an inspiration.

"Every day I come to work I'm inspired by Tedy," fellow Pats linebacker Mike Vrabel said. "I'll always remember being on the field and starting next to Tedy that game after he came back from the stroke. It was special."

Bruschi is special. He is easily one of the 10 best linebackers in the game today, a player who figures to get some consideration for the Hall of Fame once he calls it quits.

"I don't vote, but if I did I would certainly vote for him," Vrabel said. "What he's meant to this team over the course of 12 years - he always seems to be front and center of what we're doing.

"His play, his demeanor, the way he carries himself; everybody says he represents what the Patriots are all about. I agree with that and with what teammate Rodney Harrison said - he's the guy on our helmet. That's Tedy."

Everyone wonders how much longer Bruschi will wear that helmet. He certainly doesn't show any signs of slowing down, but with three Super Bowl rings to his credit already you wonder if he has much left to accomplish.

Besides, a win in Super Bowl XLII could provide a perfect ending for the one-time member of the University of Arizona's "Desert Swarm" defense.

"There's no question this is the most special Super Bowl for me," Bruschi said, "There are so many layers of this game being special for me in terms or what I've been through.

"It started with what I went through with my stroke and what we've done this season, what we can complete if we win the game and with being in Arizona with all my friends and family. The list just goes on."

So does life. Beat that.

Reporter Roy Cummings can be reached at (813) 259-7979 or rcummings@tampatrib.com.

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