Former football great Lyle Alzado believes the steroids and growth hormones he took for more than 20 years caused his brain cancer.
Alzado, whose cancer is inoperable, said there was a time in his NFL career when he spent $20,000 to $30,000 a year on the muscle-building drugs.In an article in this week's Sports Illustrated, Alzado said he started taking steroids at Yankton College in South Dakota in 1969.
"I never stopped," he said. "Not when I retired from the NFL in 1985. Not ever. I couldn't, and then I made things worse by using human growth hormone, too."
The former defensive lineman for the Los Angeles Raiders said the steroids increased his weight from 190 to 300 pounds.
"So many people tried to talk me out of what I was doing, and I wouldn't listen," he said. "And now I'm sick. I've got cancer - brain lymphoma - and I'm in the fight of my life."
Alzado's personal physician, Dr. Robert Huizenga, has said there is no way to determine if steroid and growth hormone use caused Alzado's cancer. But Huizenga said steriod use has been linked to cancer of the liver and prostate.