Kendall Simmons

It started in the summer of 2003, and in two weeks I had lost 45 pounds. It started out with 20 pounds, then 13, and all the other symptoms of diabetes, I started developing them all – From fatigue to dry mouth to thirst. It got to the point where my wife was concerned, but I felt like it was just the Alabama heat that I was training in. At that point I was getting ready for training camp, and was working out twice a day, and I just figured that I was probably overdoing it and just needed to sit down and rest for a little bit.

I drove up to Pittsburgh, about 13 hours from Auburn, and John Norwig, who is still the trainer there now, saw me and said, "Man, you don’t look good. What’s going on?" I told him, "You know, I don’t feel good. I don’t know what it is, but maybe I just overworked myself." He sent me to Dr. Anthony Yates, the team doctor, to get checked out. Once I got there, I told him what was going on and my symptoms, and he tested my blood. When he came back, he immediately said, "I think we need to get you to the emergency room right now. I think you have diabetes."

My support system was amazing. My wife was perfect. Even to this day, (the diagnosis) helped our family for the better. I travel and speak about diabetes, and how to live with it and how it can transform your family, for the better. She learned how to cook healthier, we stopped eating so many sweets and fried foods. We learned how to eat in moderation, and it helped us all out.

The biggest part to me, and someone that I give a lot of credit to who isn’t here right now, is Mr. Dan Rooney, the chairman of the Steelers. He had two kids with Type 1 Diabetes, and that really made a difference to me. A particular story sticks out to me, it starts with me laying on the training table. I was going through a low blood sugar episode and I didn’t understand what was going on, and I was shaking and sweating and just didn’t feel good. The one thing he told me – I’ll never forget it – was, "The grass out there, will be there. Don’t worry about that. I want you to live a long and healthy life. Do what the doctors tell you to do, and the rest will take care of itself." The fact that he was sitting there checking on me, showed that he had a heart and cared about me as a person, that made a world of difference to me.

My teammates knew about it, and they helped me out the most with the psychological and emotional support. There wasn’t much they could do, other than me asking them, "Hey, can you go get the trainer real quick" or "get me an insulin pen/some sugar/glucose tabs." They were definitely helpful with that. I had some teammates who asked a lot of questions, because they had a family history of it.

The one thing a lot of people didn’t realize was that I was averaging 8-10 insulin shots a game. And I had to check my blood sugar at least 8-10 times a game as well. I dealt with issues with my adrenalin, which really ran my blood sugar through the roof, which then made me have to take so many shots. It was all over the place.

The one piece of advice I would give any player dealing with problems like that, is just to talk. Get your teammates involved. Ask as many questions as you can to your primary care specialist or whoever it is. Don’t try to do it by yourself.

God created us to enjoy relationships with people, and especially in situations like that you have to take advantage and use as many people as you can to help you get through what you’re going through. My career would’ve been shorter if I had to deal with that situation anywhere other than Pittsburgh. With Mr. Rooney and his family, and Jonathan Hayes, another player who had diabetes before I was there, they were well equipped for what was going on with me.

The one thing I can honestly say, being a father and husband, is that our family needs us. And we’re already physically and mentally beat up from the game, so if you don’t take care of yourself afterwards, it affects everyone around you. The hardest part of doing that is that the responsibility falls squarely on your shoulders when you’re done playing. We don’t have the medical staff and trainers that were constantly watching over us to make things easier.

I feel like as men, we have a hard time asking for help. We don’t want people to see us at our weak points. But it’s OK. I would rather be weak and get help than try and be strong and end up in the hospital or eventually not here for my family. So, I think it’s very important that guys take advantage of the resources that The Trust and everyone else has to get help.

I remember vividly going and working out at Gold’s Gym one morning, and a couple days before that I just was not feeling it. I knew I could do it mentally, but my body was telling me that I’d had enough. I had torn my pectoral muscle in three places a few months before in Buffalo, and normally my body bounced back from injuries and showed some progress. But this time it wasn’t, and mentally I was doubting myself – something I had never been in before. I remember calling and talking to my agent a couple of days later

Retiring was one of the hardest decisions I ever made. My oldest daughter was just going into the first grade. I had just passed a physical in Arizona, but I didn’t want to pull my family out there for maybe a few weeks, hoping that I’d make it through the season. I realized physically, at that time, I just couldn’t do it. Mentally I was locked in, but my body just wasn’t responding.

One of the biggest transitions for me was learning how to do stuff on my own. You’re so used to having people tell you where to be, when to be, what time to train. You have a clock set and you understand what you need to do. But when you’re at home and you have kids and a wife depending on you, with no set schedule and people are looking at you to lead, that’s hard. For me, that was the tough part, and trying to find doctors, and getting adjusted to the real world. Being afraid to call The Trust for help, because I felt like too much of a man to ask for help.

Going to Tulane for my Brain & Body appointment was extremely scary for me. There were things that I didn’t want to find out, or was afraid of that were going to hurt me. But it was a perfect experience for me, because I was going through some issues myself, as far as mentally adjusting after the game, and that visit really helped me assess where I was and pointed me in the right direction. It’s well worth attending something like that.

Valerie at AthLife has been absolutely amazing. She sat and listened to what I had to say, looked at my resume, and really helped decipher some directions I needed to go in and try professionally.

A lot of times you think, "This is the job I want to do." But after talking to AthLife, those decisions I had made prematurely changed. She gave me a test to identify what jobs might fit me, and I learned there are so many things out there that I might be interested, but I had pigeon-holed myself in to two or three. My experience with AthLife has definitely been worth it.

Being a professional athlete, you have to learn to deal with hundreds of different personalities, and try to fit into a team with people you don’t really know for one common goal. The goals I have now with the people I speak with are to try and work towards a cure for diabetes. I don’t know them, but we have the same goal and try to help each other. We’re all trying to get to the same common goal, and that really has prepared me for working hard. Going after something that seems unattainable, like the Lombardi Trophy in football, or finding a cure for diabetes now. That drives me with my professional career off the field.

Call The Trust – You can sit there and think about it all day long, but honestly while you sit and think about it, the world just keeps moving. You have to take the step and ask someone. If you’ve got a few ideas, The Trust can help point you in the right direction and get you going.

All we need is that little push, and that what's helped me out. I haven’t ever been this motivated in trying to find my niche professionally. When I started talking with Candice and AthLIfe, it lit another fire under me that I hadn’t had in a long time. I would tell the guys to please reach out, and ask questions.

My favorite things about my job are that it gives me an opportunity to learn more about the disease I live with, and to be around kids. Kids are honest, they’ll tell you the truth, and the energy they have really has kept me going the last six years. I honestly think I’d be in a bad spot health-wise and mentally if I didn’t have my job with Novo Nordisk. I get the opportunity to be around kids who are in worse shape than I’m in, and to see kids at children’s hospitals that are terminally ill and who might not be here in the future, and they’re smiling and happy without a care in the world.

That really brings life into perspective for me. Even though I still complain like we all do, I think about those situations and it makes me happy, because I know I’m blessed and it makes me open up and give more of myself to the kids. Letting them understand that, "Yes, I had an opportunity to play professional sports, but deep down inside, I’m no different than you. I struggle with things, I need help, and we can all try to get through this together."

I would’ve taken better advantage of my connections and networked better. Also, financially, understanding how to budget. When you’re making that type of money, you don’t think about when that day comes and having to go on a budget because you have expenses that aren’t being covered by next week’s game check anymore. I wish I would’ve understood that better, and I’m still learning that process now. It’s a constant discussion for me and my wife all the time, about doing a better job of budgeting money.

My very first game at Heinz Field, I was terrified. I had to play against the Oakland Raiders, and I remember seeing Jerry Rice and Tim Brown come out of the tunnel. And now I’m on the same field with these guys I played with in Madden and watched on SportsCenter. I remember having to block Sam Adams that game, and the whole time, it was so exciting to be around guys of that caliber.

But to me, my proudest moment was the Super Bowl. I remember the night before we won against Seattle. I told my wife that I really felt like we were going to win, and that I would get her when the game was over. And grabbing my oldest daughter, who was barely two at the time, and my wife out of the stands and watching her do confetti snow-angels on the field, that’s something I’ll never forget. I don’t remember much about that game at all, but that moment I remember that like it just happened a few minutes ago.

I never thought I would have as much time to spend with my kids and my wife. Looking back and thinking about how blessed I am to have had the opportunity to play the game, and while it hurts your feelings and makes you sad to see how fast it goes by. Just having the opportunity to share all that and my family to go along on the ride with me during that time. And when we look back at training camp pictures, my kids being there or certain games, it’s things that I never thought I’d have the opportunity to be a part of. I’m still in awe of the league itself and the opportunity I had.

The first thing I would honestly tell them to do is reach out to The Trust. Candice Williams, my Program Manager, has been absolutely amazing for me. It was a couple of years ago, and I don’t know what made me call her. We just had a conversation – I was struggling with some stuff. She sat down and listened with me, and set me up with a good counselor here and some other things.

I would tell the player to go to The Trust, go to NFL Player Engagement, ask for help. There are resources now that I’m finding about that I’m like, "Man, why did I not look at this or do the research before!" I didn’t even know it existed. Like some of the pain things I’ve been dealing with, and they cover it. I should’ve jumped on that a long time ago.

Don’t deny yourself. There are too many resources out there, and we sit there and think that the league doesn’t care. There are too many benefits that we don’t reach out to. Talk to other former teammates, too. A lot of us think a lot, but we don’t want to talk about it. And when you find a brother who understands, it really makes it easier to talk about what’s bothering you and vent your frustrations.