San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Crohn’s disease can’t sideline O-lineman
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. — Seantrel Henderson was scared for his life as white-hot fear almost overcame his massive body.
Plenty of tears were shed. His parents and his girlfriend held his hand inside his hospital room. The young football player was facing a serious medical crisis.
Stricken by Crohn’s disease, Henderson was worried that more important things than his once-promising career with the Bills was over.
Henderson felt like he was being stabbed in the gut, daggers of pain shooting through his midsection. The disease attacked his bodily functions during the latter stages of the 2015 season.
“It was very unpleasant,” said Henderson, who signed a oneyear, $4 million contract to join the Texans as a free agent this spring. “Very uncomfortable, excruciating pain. I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”
It was all because of Crohn’s disease, the incurable inflammatory disorder that disrupts the stomach, intestines, colon and other organs. Symptoms include abdominal cramping, diarrhea, internal bleeding and chronic fatigue.
The 6-foot-7, 330-pound future Texans’ starting right offensive tackle couldn’t stop vomiting. He couldn’t use the bathroom. He lost roughly 50 pounds.
Ultimately, doctors surgically removed 80 diseased centimeters of his large and small intestines in early 2016.
For four months, Henderson had to have an ileostomy bag attached to a hole surgically created above his waist. Surgeons eventually reconnected his bowels, allowing him to heal and later resume his NFL career.
“They said I was going to need the bag for the rest of my life, but I healed so fast that they reconnected my bowels,” he said. “That’s how I got to come back to play again. I’m very grateful.”
Now, the 26-year-old’s medical ordeal has brought him back from the brink of an unpleasant life to being healthy again and back on an NFL roster. Henderson is primed for significant role on an overhauled offensive line.
All of that almost didn’t happen, though, because of Crohn’s disease. That affects up to 700,000 Americans, according to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.
Although there’s no known cure, surgery can help preserve the working portions of the stomach. Altering the diet can cut down the risk of complications.
A former blue-chip recruit from Minneapolis who ranked first among all players in the 2010 incoming freshman class when he signed with the University of Miami, Henderson is no stranger to hardships.
In college, Henderson battled injuries, a weight problem as he tipped the scales at 375 pounds as a freshman and three suspensions for violating team rules. Henderson later revealed at the NFL scouting combine that he had a history of marijuana use in college.
That baggage dropped Henderson to the seventh round, but he still became the Bills’ starting right tackle as a rookie when he started every game that season and 10 more games as a second-year pro . His original four-year, $2.8 million contract qualified as a bargain.
From being wracked with unbearable pain to playing the game he loves again, Henderson is a survivor.
“I feel like God was slowing me down a little bit,” Henderson said, “so I could not take certain things for granted and live every day as if it was my last.”