"We're All Dealing With Something": Steelers' 1st Round Pick Had An Eye Opening Experience Seeing Alan Faneca Deal With Epilepsy

The Pittsburgh Steelers have dealt with a lot of adversity over the years within their organization. While losing isn't a great feeling, there have been some deeper situations that make a team mean significantly more than the game of football itself. Building a great culture and an organization that has players that care about the bigger things in life, more than football is what makes a franchise so great, for the players and more.

With the challenges that life brings, it can be very difficult to have a long and healthy career in the NFL. One example of a player in Pittsburgh that dealt with a major setback on the field was Kendall Simmons, an offensive lineman that played with the Steelers from 2002-2008. In 2003, Simmons was diagnosed with type one diabetes and within two weeks, he lost 45 pounds. At first, he had no idea. He thought he just overworked himself in preparation for training camp, but once he reported, the team doctor discovered it was diabetes. He even lost his sight in the hospital, showing how serious this was for his health.

Going through something like this, it can take a big hit on your mental health. Simmons didn't know much about what was happening, nor what the future would hold, but he got motivation from others to help power himself through such a difficult time.

On the Red Zone Blitz Podcast, Simmons recalled some of his other teammates that were going through some serious health issues and decided to use it as motivation and power through this setback.

"The other reasons I learned how to enjoy the game and quit complaining about it and stop saying why," Simmons recalled. "Jerome Bettis, he had extreme asthma really bad. Then Alan Faneca had epilepsy. He had to take medicine for that. Those are things, when I found out my other teammates were dealing with stuff on their own as well, it showed me, these guys are fighting through these things and they're playing at a high level. I have nothing to complain about. We're all dealing with something and that really changed my perspective on that." 

The support from a team and everyone being open about their issues really helped Simmons power through such a difficult time. Diabetes is very serious and requires a lot of maintenance. Watching his blood sugar and diet is a lot to juggle with practices and games. The workload that football brought was already rough on the body, then adding diabetes on top of it, it's impressive how much Simmons could take.

The help of his teammates of course were the main reason Simmons didn't just give up. Jerome Bettis was one of the best running backs in the league and he ran up and down the field with asthma. Then Alan Faneca dealt with epilepsy and as a lineman. He took a significant amount of hits to the head, which wasn't easy on his end. Between both of these players battling through adversity, it was a hectic period of time in Pittsburgh for their star players and their health.

There's a lot of adversity that players go through and to imagine how hard health issues like this are to play through are unfathomable. Somehow, Simmons still managed to start every game in 2003 and 2005 (missed 2004 to a torn ACL). Holding the weight and blocking the best defensive linemen in the league, Simmons' story is incredible. Without seeing what happened with Bettis and Faneca, who knows how his career would have went.

Steelers' Kendall Simmons' Diabetes Story Is Heartwarming

There's a lot about this story that is very fascinating. There are a lot of people that would have just given up and never laced up the cleats again, but what Simmons accomplished is very heartwarming. 

While we never wish bad things on players, being able to watch stories like these over the years are very special. 

Thoughts on Simmons' comments? Follow us for more news.

#SteelerNation