Former NFL player Tim Green opens up to Brian Kilmeade about living with ALS

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Former NFL player Tim Green opens up about ALS diagnosis

Former NFL linebacker Tim Green discusses being diagnosed with ALS and new book ‘Final Season.’

Former NFL player and FOX NFL broadcaster Tim Green opened up Tuesday about living with ALS and his new book "The Final Season."

"I’ve lost the use of my voice, and all my limbs, but I’m so grateful for the technology that allows me to write books and work in my law firm and communicate with you like I’m doing now," Green told "Fox & Friends" host Brian Kilmeade, alongside his son Troy. 

Green’s son explained that his father has a tablet tracking his eyes, so when he looks at the screen, it functions as a keyboard, and when he leaves his eyes idle on a letter for a certain amount of time, it’ll select that letter. Green has a button he can click to speak.

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Green attended Syracuse University where he was an All-American football player. Green was drafted in the first round of the 1986 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons and played as a linebacker and defensive end for eight years.

While playing in the NFL, Green also studied law and began his writing career. By the time he retired from football in 1994, Green had already published his first book and became a lawyer. While working those two jobs, he began working as a television broadcaster for "FOX NFL Sunday," "Good Morning America," "A Current Affair," and others.

Green’s new book "The Final Season" details his 12-year-old son’s point of view of chasing an "elusive championship trophy" during the final season of football and coping with his father’s physical deterioration and near-death caused by ALS.

Green, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2018, said the book is a "middle-grade novel" that is "pretty close to what really happened to him, his three boys and, and his youngest son’s final season of football.

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Troy and his other brother were coaching on the sideline with his father. Troy said that he was coaching the offense and his brother coached the defense.

"It was a different experience for sure," Troy recalled, noting that it was his father's last season before his condition worsened.

To join the fight against ALS, Green urged people to buy the book, since all proceeds will be donated to Tackle ALS.

ALS is a rare disease that causes progressive degeneration and death of the nerve cells that control voluntary muscle movements, such as chewing, walking, talking and breathing, according to the NINDS. Most people with ALS develop symptoms between ages 55 and 75, and the disease usually progresses rapidly, with death occurring in three to five years after diagnosis.