Steve Gleason returns home ‘reborn’ from health crisis

By Katherine Terrell, ESPN staff writerSeptember 18, 2024 8:43 AM

Kathryn Terrell returned to ESPN to cover the New Orleans Saints in the summer of 2022. She joined the company in 2016 to cover the Cincinnati Bengals and left in 2019. Kathryn is a Louisiana State University graduate and a native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She has been covering the NFL since 2013. Follow Kathryn on Twitter at @Kat_Terrell.

Former New Orleans Saints safety and ALS advocate Steve Gleason is back home after a six-night hospital stay following a medical event last week.

“After six days of being stuck at home, being greeted by a full moon, the Oaks and my family… I feel reborn,” Gleason posted to social media on Tuesday night, along with several photos of him and his family.

Gleason has been active on social media, posting a photo of himself watching the Saints’ 44-19 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday from his hospital bed.

Gleason was diagnosed with ALS in 2011 and uses a ventilator to help him breathe. Gleason’s publicist, Claire Durrett, told ESPN last week that he was taken to the hospital on Sept. 11 with low blood pressure and a fever.

Her doctor recommended she go to the hospital to get checked out, but things got more complicated when Category 2 Hurricane Francine made landfall in Louisiana. Packing wind speeds of nearly 100 mph as it made landfall, the hurricane left thousands of New Orleans residents without power. Additionally, roads in parts of New Orleans were flooded, making it difficult for emergency personnel and paramedics to travel while the storm was still moving through the area.

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Mr Durrett said there were concerns paramedics and emergency responders would not be able to reach Mr Gleason but “fortunately, emergency responders were able to reach Mr Gleason as Steve’s health was deteriorating”.

Gleason is a former Saints special teams captain who played seven seasons in New Orleans and is best known for blocking a punt against the Atlanta Falcons in the Saints’ first game after the Superdome reopened after Hurricane Katrina in 2006. He is now an ALS awareness activist, providing technology, equipment and support services to people with ALS through his foundation, Team Gleason.

He received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYS in July, and recently released “A Life Impossible,” a memoir that Gleason wrote with co-author Geoff Duncan using eye-tracking technology.