The Next Generation of You: Roy Green

Former All-Pro wide receiver Roy Green and offensive lineman Derek Kennard were teammates who shared the huddle while with the St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals from 1986 to 1990. Since then, they’ve shared a friendship.

After discovering he had sleep apnea, an aliment which causes stoppages in breathing while sleeping that can result in a loss of oxygen to the brain, Kennard began successful treatment for it, and felt Green should be checked to see if he had it too.

“I’d been having lots of issues. I mean, I had two heart attacks; I had two strokes, feeling like crap every day. He goes, ‘Man, I think you should go get tested. This might have some affect on all the things going on with you,’” said Green, who played 14 seasons [1979-1992] in the NFL with the Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles. “So I got tested, and sure and behold, it was a major issue. I got treatment, which is the Herbst device, and instantly I started getting better sleep. I wasn’t tired. I started being a little bit more active.

“I said, ‘You know what? Derek, if this happened to you and then me, I’ve got a message for my brethren out there that are suffering from the same thing because they’re like me and don’t even know what it is.’ I had no idea what it was prior to him telling me and Dave (Gergen, President of Gergen’s Orthodontic Laboratories) meeting me and telling me all about it....

The full article can be found on the Professional Athletes Foundation website by clicking here.

--
Skylar Faulkner
Admin | ASBA