Mike Krukow, the former Major League baseball player turned San Francisco Giants broadcaster, recently revealed that he suffers from a degenerative muscle disorder that has forced him to use a walking cane and even a motorized scooter at times.
Krukow, who pitched 14 seasons in the Major Leagues, was diagnosed eight years ago with inclusion-body myositis, a disorder that progressively weakness the muscles in the limbs.
The 62-year-old told the San Francisco Chronicle this week that he decided to keep his condition a secret until recently.
"[The doctor] said, 'You're going to need a cane and then you're going to need a walker,'" Krukow said. "'And eventually you may be that old dude riding around in a scooter.'"
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The good news, the doctor told him, was that the muscle disease is not life threatening.
The former pitcher started wearing braces on his legs for support earlier this year. He now carries a walking stick to keep his balance, according to the Chronicle.
"Being the strong, muscular athlete he was, this was very difficult to face," Jennifer Krukow, the pitcher's wife, told the newspaper. "I think he thought, if I just ignore it, it won't get worse. But it has definitely gotten worse."
Krukow, a seven-time Emmy Award winner for his television work with the Giants, has been part of its broadcast team for 23 seasons. Krukow played for the Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Giants over his 14 years in the league. He was named to the 1980's Giants All-Decade Team in a vote by local media in 1999.
Craig Calcaterra, of NBC Sports, said now that Krukow and publicly come to terms with his disease, it may encourage others to seek treatment.
"The key takeaway here, and maybe a big part of why Krukow is now going public, is that he was in denial about it for a long time,"
Calcaterra wrote in his Hardball Talk blog this week. "Men, especially athletes, but really all men, tend to react that way to medical issues. Take the 'eh, I can deal' approach when maybe they can't. I know I have. Good to see Krukow sloughing that off now. Maybe it'll encourage other men to pay closer attention to what their bodies tell them as they get older."
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