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Former NFL star Bill Romanowski claims he suffered “20 documented concussions” during his pro football career. The two-time Pro Bowl linebacker spent 16 years in the league playing for four different teams.
Romanowski, who won four Super Bowls playing for the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Denver Broncos, and Oakland Raiders from 1988 to 2003, tells TMZ that despite all of those brain injuries, he is still doing well at age 58.
“I got this saying,” he said. “‘Don’t let the old man in, because he’s knocking every day.’ I work at it.
“I take a million supplements every day. I take my I just got done taking my neuro to get ready for this interview with you. So I work out every day. I swim every day. I lift weights. I get in hyperbaric oxygen treatments. I do red light therapy. I do a lot of thing,s and right now, I can truly say that it’s working.
“Can I tell you that six… you know, because, you know we were talking. I don’t know if it’s you and I or your producer, but we were talking about Brett Favre. And I’ve seen what’s going on with him, with Parkinson’s. And, you know, I remember hitting Brett Favre. And I remember grabbing him by the throat and you know, holding him down, and he’d whack me in the head and he’d say, ‘hit me harder next time, Romo.’ And I’m like, it’s kind of, it’s kind of like you want him to fight you back a little bit. And he’s like, ‘hit me harder next time, Romo.’ And I’m almost kind of like, ‘damn, what do I do about that?’ But, hey, it’s one of those things.
“Like I said, Mike, I work at it every day and nutrition is a big part of that,” Romanowski continued. “Working out is a big part of that. And sleep is a big part of that. Things that are really important.
“But, you know, my mom died of Alzheimer’s, so I’m worried I have the APOE4 gene. So, I want to make sure that that gene does not get expressed and I don’t have to deal with it, hopefully for a long time.”