CHILDHOOD HEALTH WOES COULDN’T KEEP POSEY DOWN
There wasn’t any cable in
Devier Posey’s home growing up. Instead, he had to settle for network television. And, not surprising given his serious health hardships, he remained a fan of comedies — particularly Seinfeld.
The classic Bubble Boy episode, which originally aired in October 1992, when Posey was only two years old, hit home. Years later, when he finally saw it in reruns, he found it funny and tragic at the same time.
“It was kind of like a reality check,” the Alouettes receiver said. “That’s what life could have been.”
Posey, 29, battled immune system deficiencies. The warning signs began when he was only six weeks old and developed an ear infection. Despite a round of antibiotics, the infection returned. And then, at 28 weeks, Posey developed mastoiditis — an infection that extends to the air cells of the skull behind the ear. The condition once was a leading cause of death for children.
Following a battery of tests, it was discovered the young child’s immune system was deficient. He would spend years in and out of hospitals, being prodded and poked by physicians. His mother had to know where he was at all times and who was with him. The threat of Posey having to live in a germ-free plastic bubble was so serious, the Make-a-wish foundation sent the family to Disneyland.
Posey said he was treated like a rock star there.
“It was the first time in my life feeling special and not sick. I remember that,” said Posey, who once coughed so severely he sustained a double hernia. Another time, he was rushed to hospital with a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit.
“I remember being aware of my condition,” Posey said. “There’s a reason to be urgent about wearing the right clothes to go outside to play ... eating the right things. Or if I felt the hint of a sniffle.
Not having an immune system ... I’d never get any (warning) signs. I’d never have a fever, yet before I knew it, I’d just be sick.
“I definitely would be a different person had I lived in a bubble. I couldn’t imagine what life would have been like ... wearing a mask everyday or being afraid of having someone cough on me. It would have been devastating for my confidence. I wouldn’t be the man I am or as confident as I am. I wouldn’t have pursued the things I did in life. I’d be a different person.”
Posey was raised by his single mom, Julie, who quickly realized good nutrition could kick-start his immune system. There was always something green on his plate and, she advised him, the less legs, the better. In other words, fish was better than beef or chicken.
Posey quickly came to realize he required food that would be easy to burn without wasting energy. And, as he got older, he began to understand diet would be the first practice of discipline.
As late as 2012, when Posey attended the NFL Combine after playing at Ohio State, there remained signs his immune system still wasn’t functioning perfectly. Nonetheless, he was selected in the third round by Houston. Financially stable for the first time, Posey could modify his diet and take supplements to enrich his blood and immune system.
The importance of that would be brought home when Posey tore an Achilles tendon during a playoff game against New England. Normally a year-long recovery, he returned in approximately six months — and Posey is convinced his healthy diet was the stimulant.
He’s also convinced that, were it not for the devastating injury, he’d still be in the NFL. Instead, he was traded to the New York Jets in 2015. The Jets required him to undergo a mandatory blood test. For the first time, no signs of immune deficiency were detected.
Posey bounced around the
NFL and was with Baltimore as recently as last season — with time in the Canadian Football League in-between. He won a Grey Cup with Toronto in 2017 and completed last season with B.C. before signing with the Als as a free agent last winter.
He started a non-profit foundation — Pocket Full of Poseys — in 2013, hosting football camps and giving nutritional seminars so families can make healthy food choices. And, although being told his condition isn’t hereditary, he had some concerns before starting a family.
The father of two healthy boys — 5-year-old Drue Stewart and newborn Nile Josiah — Posey makes sure the kids are dressed warmly, now that cooler temperatures have returned, and insists Drue eat salad.
Posey’s mother, who lives in Cincinnati, now needs his attention, after being diagnosed with her own autoimmune disease. She requires oxygen around the clock as she battles an antibody that has attacked her organs and affected her skin. And, following a collapsed lung, she requires a transplant. It keeps Posey going.
“She put the ball in my hands,” he said. “She realized I was crazy enough to play.”
Posey also wants to be a model teammate and leader for his new club.
“I want to put my life and body on the line for these guys,” he said.