Steroids caused Lyle Alzado's inoperable brain cancer, the former All-Pro defensive end says, and now "I'm half the man I was."
In an interview on NBC's "First Person with Maria Shriver," which will air Saturday, Alzado said that when he was playing, 75 percent of the players took steroids or some form of performance enhancement.He also told Shriver that he took steroids almost all of his 14 years in the league with the Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Raiders.
"And it got me where I wanted, but it also got me very sick," the 42-year-old Alzado said. He said that in an effort to make a comeback last year with the Raiders, "I used a certain steroid that caused me to ruin my immune system."
That, he said, was the cause of a rare form of brain lymphoma diagnosed last April. His treatment includes radiation, oral cortisone and chemotherapy.
"My dreams are different now than they once were," Alzado said. "You know, before, I wanted to go to the Super Bowl. ... It's not those things anymore. It's different. It's just a workingman's dream. To work, to have a nice car, a nice house. You know, to live decently. To treat people decently."
"To live," Shriver said.
"Yeah. To live is more important than anything," he said.
Alzado retired from football in 1985, one of the most feared and fearsome figures on the football field. At age 41 last year, he tried to become the oldest player in the league, but he was cut by the Raiders before the season.
During his retirement, Alzado tried out an acting career, did some commercials and owns "Alzado's," a West Hollywood restaurant.
Now, he is 60 pounds lighter than last year and struggles to walk. He has dizzy spells and slurred speech from his therapy, and he has experienced loss of coordination in his right arm, hand and leg.
"Not everything works, and it bothers me," he said. "My personality is a lot different. It's a lot calmer. There's so many things that are different. You know, that big massive guy I was, I hate to admit this, but it was all phony."
Alzado said he believes the NFL was aware of rampant use of steroids in the league, but "I just think they didn't think it was troublesome to them." The league outlawed steroids in 1989.