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Johnson, 40, told “Good Morning America” co-anchor Michael Strahan he was diagnosed last year, speaking through an eye-controlled, speech-generating device. “There’s no history of ALS in my family,” he said. “My doctors believe my case is what’s called sporadic ALS, which is actually how the vast majority of ALS cases happen.”
Johnson said he first noticed weakness in his right hand last year while otherwise in good health, training daily and spending time with his wife, Brittany, and their four children. Brittany initially suspected the weakness stemmed from old football injuries. “Maybe a pinched nerve or something along those lines,” she said, “but never ALS.”
The disease has advanced quickly. “It’s continued to progress much faster than I ever imagined,” Johnson said. “Just over a year ago, I was picking up my 7-year-old daughter so she’d make a wish with her birthday cake. Today, I couldn’t do that.”
ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that disrupts communication between nerve cells and muscles, eventually affecting a person’s ability to move, speak, swallow, and breathe. According to the National Institutes of Health, most patients die from respiratory failure within three to five years of symptom onset, though roughly one in ten live ten years or longer.
