Football legend and NFL Hall of Famer Dan Marino has revealed he has a liver disease called MASH.
He told People magazine he didn’t have many symptoms when he had a checkup back in 2007, other than being “a little fatigued.”
“I wasn’t really working out as much as I should — because I used to work out when I played all the time and I kind of got away from that a little bit," he said.
“Then they (doctors) told me I had a fatty liver. I had MASH.”
MASH stands for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. It had been called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and occurs when excess fat cells collect in the liver. It can cause cirrhosis or liver cancer, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
The condition is reversible.
“Mainly for me, they were saying, like, ‘You gotta work out. You got to lose weight,’” Marino, 64, said.
He credits his wife Claire, who goes on nightly walks and bike rides, as well as getting to doctors’ appointments, as well as former teammate Terry Kirby, who trains the former Miami Dolphin.
He has also changed his diet, cutting out wine, pizza and ice cream and exchanging it for what is called the Mediterranean diet.
Marino made the health announcement as part of Novo Nordisk’s Unordinary Stories campaign, which features athletes and their health stories.
When Marino retired in 2000, he had the records for career completions with 4,967, passing yards with 61,361 yards and touchdown passes with 420. All of those records were broken, CBS Sports reported.
He was also a nine-time Pro Bowler and NFL MVP winner in 1984 after throwing for 5,000 yards in a season.