Head To Head With RA

Terry Bradshaw Has Scored Victories On And Off The Gridiron, But He Never Thought He’d Have To Tackle Rheumatoid Arthritis.

- Timothy Gower

One sultry afternoon in September, Terry Bradshaw was hanging around the horse-training facility on his ranch in Thackerville, Oklahoma, reflecting on turning 70 a few days earlier. “The ride I’ve been on has been an absolute joy,” says Bradshaw. “The good and the bad, all of it.”

There has been plenty of good for the legendary Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and award-winning TV personality. He counts appearances in movies and even a few country-western records on his résumé, too. But there has been adversity, as well, from the boos Bradshaw heard as a rookie with the Steelers to his very public struggle with depression.

An Unexpected Opponent

Bradshaw has faced another foe since 2013, when he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

“It was like, ‘What do you mean, rheumatoid arthritis?’” he recalls asking his doctors, his voice and energy rising in a way that fans of Fox NFL Sunday and Thursday Night Football would recognize. “They had to bring me up to speed on what it is. And I’ve got to tell you, I wasn’t real happy knowing I had rheumatoid arthritis and the fact that I could hurt so bad.”