Dallas Cowboys legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin has revealed his wife of 34 years is in the early stages of a battle with Alzheimer’s.
Sandy Irvin, 58, has already been struggling with the disease for five or six years and is having difficulties speaking and walking, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Tuesday.
Despite these issues, Irvin refuses to put her in a nursing home, and has instead hired a live-in caretaker for Sandy.
‘If anyone has earned the right to stay in her house, MY WIFE HAS!!!’ Michael told the Star-Telegram. ‘That I shall honor. No matter what it takes.’
The couple has been together 39 years after meeting together at the University of Miami and later getting marred in 1990, as he was beginning his NFL career with the Cowboys.
Irvin recently opened up a new sports bar on Father’s Day called Playmakers88, which is a nod to his jersey number.
It was at Playmakers on Monday where Irvin first revealed to his customers – and the public at large – that Sandy was having serious health issues.
Irvin’s revelation comes at an exciting time for experts treating the disease.
A closely watched Alzheimer’s drug from Eli Lilly won the backing of federal health advisers last week, setting the stage for the treatment’s expected approval for people with mild dementia caused by the brain-robbing disease.
Food and Drug Administration advisers voted unanimously that the drug’s ability to slow the disease outweighs its risks, including side effects like brain swelling and bleeding that will have to be monitored.
‘I thought the evidence was very strong in the trial showing the effectiveness of the drug,’ said panel member Dean Follmann, a National Institutes of Health statistician.
The FDA will make the final decision on approval later this year. If the agency agrees with the panel’s recommendation, the drug, donanemab, would only be the second Alzheimer’s drug cleared in the US that’s been shown to convincingly slow cognitive decline and memory problems due to Alzheimer’s.
The FDA approved a similar infused drug, Leqembi, from Japanese drugmaker Eisai last year.
The slowdown seen with both drugs amounts to several months and experts disagree on whether patients or their loved ones will be able to detect the difference.
