National Football League

Patrick Peterson reveals he played 2014 with a serious illness

Published Apr. 7, 2015 7:37 p.m. ET

foxsports

By Tim Weaver

A while ago we learned from Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians that cornerback Patrick Peterson had some blood sugar issues last season.

As it turns out, the problem is much bigger than that…

In an interview conducted by Kent Somers of AZ Central, Peterson revealed that he’s a full-blown diabetic:

Q: Coach Arians said in February that you had a blood sugar problem early in the season and that really affected you?

A: Yeah, it did. I’d rather not go into deep detail about that. It was a situation that it occurred during the season. The team docs found it and got it all under wraps.

Q: But it made a big difference?

A: No question it made a big difference and once they found out what the problem was, they put their hands around the throat, wrangled it and we moved forward from it.

Q: You said you didn’t want to get into details but people hear that and wonder, “Is he diabetic?”

A: I am a diabetic. Let’s just keep it that way.

You can read the full report here.

I think it’s a brave thing for Peterson to step up and acknowledge his illness. Hopefully he will use his stature to create some awareness about diabetes and help combat the disease.

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