Tom Brady’s father says both he and his wife fought COVID-19 last year, which “stressed” the star quarterback as he began his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Tom Brady Sr., in an interview Monday on ESPN Radio’s #Greeny, said he was hospitalized for three weeks at one point last year and that both he and his wife, Galynn, were “sick as a gos “.
Brady Sr. he noted that the couple, both 76, did not watch the Bucs’ first two games this season due to their hospitalization, and said it was the first time in their son’s football career that he had missed any game.
“We’ve never missed a game in Michigan or New England or anywhere else,” he told ESPN. “During the first two games when I was in the hospital, I didn’t even care if they were playing, let alone missing the game. It was a matter of life or death, like anyone going to the hospital. That’s serious things “.
Tom Sr. said Galynn, who survived breast cancer, did not need hospitalization because of the virus. Her daughter, who is a nurse, cared for Galynn while Tom Sr. was in the hospital.
“We’re only representatives of 25 million Americans who’ve had these things so far, so it’s nothing to shake a stick at,” he said.
Elder Brady also described the difficulty his son had in balancing football with concern for his parents, and said the six-time Super Bowl champion would make me “FaceTime every day on the road to practice.” and that he was “stressed” worrying about them.
“Tommy fought it, and now he’s in the rearview mirror,” he said. “We’re healthy, we’re happy and everything is good.”
Brady Sr. he made the comments a day after his son led the Buccaneers to a Green Bay Packers upset in the NFC championship game and the team’s first appearance in the Super Bowl since the 2002 season.
Brady, 43, will play in a Super Bowl for the tenth time in his career history on Feb. 7, when the Bucs will face the Kansas City Chiefs in Tampa.
“This year has been amazing,” Brady Sr. said. “Not knowing where we will start the season and being where we will end the season is an impressive development for me … Getting to the 10th Super Bowl in 19 years of play is quite, in fact it’s incomprehensible. It’s beyond anything that we can imagine. “