The New England Patriots have made football history in reaching Super Bowl 42, but for linebacker and stroke survivor Tedy Bruschi the accomplishment goes way beyond the playing field.
"To help this team get back to this point is a sort of a victory for me in itself," said Bruschi, a defensive leader who has become a talisman for his teammates.
The Patriots have built an unprecedented 18-0 record in reaching Super Bowl 42, where they will try to finish off their perfect NFL season with a victory over the New York Giants.
"I have been working with the American Stroke Association a lot, and I know this is a victory for all stroke survivors," said Bruschi, who won Super Bowl titles with New England in 2001, 2003 and 2004 before suffering a stroke after playing in his first Pro Bowl all-star game in February 2005.
The following month doctors repaired a hole in his heart that caused the stroke, and Bruschi began his drive to return to football.
He missed the first six games of the 2005 season, and admitted that his return to the violent gridiron game came with some early doubts.
"I think the one thing they had to watch out for most was that they had to monitor the device in my heart," he said. "What they told me was that I was in a data-free zone. There weren't really tests that I could base myself off of. No one had really done this before."
However, he said his return to full confidence and form had been a gradual one.
"It was a progression," said Bruschi, who last year led the Patriots in tackles for the second straight season.
"I had to make my first tackle. Once I made my first tackle, I would consciously get up and say, `Okay, there's a tackle...' I really wanted to make myself a championship-caliber linebacker. I think I can say I'm all the way back," he said.
It's a journey that has been an inspiration to many others.
"I realize the whole grasp of things I've been able to accomplish," Bruschi said. "People have talked to me about being an inspiration to them, and a lot of stroke survivors talk to me. I respect that and I am humbled by it. It is something that I am proud to call myself -- a stroke survivor."
He said he receives letters and e-mails "constantly," not only from fellow stroke survivors but also from cancer patients and others who feel a bond with him.
"My doctors tell me that their patients light up every time they tell somebody, `This is the same thing Ted Bruschi went through. If he can get back to playing professional football, then you can be a normal, functioning human being also.'"
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