Brett Favre Thanks Fans For Support After Parkinson’s Announcement

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NFL great Brett Favre announced he had Parkinson’s last week while testifying in front of Congress in the Mississippi welfare funds scandal. Now he’s thanking fans for their support.

“Wow, what an overwhelming amount of support from you all,” Favre, 54, posted in a caption on his social media platforms, along with a video. “Thank you and this is just the beginning of another mountain to climb.”

In the video he added, “Hopefully this will shed some light on head trauma and also Parkinson’s. There’s a lot of people that are out there with it. Some know it, some don’t know it. It can happen to anyone at any time.”

Favre played 20 years as a quarterback in the National Football League, mostly with the Green Bay Packers, winning a Super Bowl in 1996. The three-time MVP and NFL Hall of Famer holds the league record for consecutive starts, playing in 321 regular season and playoff games from 1992 to 2010.

He said he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in January after not being able to use a screwdriver correctly nor put his arm in his shirtsleeve, he told TMZ Sports.

Favre told the Bubba Army Show that he now believes he suffered “thousands” of concussions over his NFL career.

“Concussions happen all the time,” Favre said. “You get tackled and your head hits the turf, you see flashes of light or ringing in your ears but you’re able to play — that’s a concussion. So, based on that, [I’ve suffered] thousands. Had to be, because every time my head hit the turf, there was ringing or stars going, flash bulbs … but I was still able to play.”

Favre was testifying about his role in a Mississippi welfare scandal where Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds were misued, per AP. Prosecutors and the state auditor say that wealthy and well-connected individuals wasted millions of dollars earmarked for families between 2016 and 2019. Favre was one of multiple defendants in a lawsuit initiated by the state who had to pay back the money they received.

In his testimony to Congress, Favre said, “I had no way of knowing that there was anything wrong with how the state funded the project,” he said.

It has been shown that $5M of TANF funds went to a volleyball arena at Favre’s alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi where his daughter played volleyball. It is also alleged that $2.1 million went to the development of a concussion drug at a company where Favre is an investor.

Favre is not accused of any wrongdoing, despite texts revealing he was paid for speaking engagements that never happened and for the volleyball arena he championed. He also asked in his texts to state officials if ‘the media could find out where the money was coming from,’ and also asked, “Will the public perception be that I became a spokesperson for various state funded shelters, schools, homes etc….. and was compensated with state money? Or can we keep this confidential.”

Former Mississippi Health Services director John Davis pled guilty to charges related to the misappropriation of funds.

Favre has repaid over $1M in speaking fees tied to TANF funds.

“I want to applaud Mr. Favre for his good faith effort to make this right and make the taxpayers and TANF families whole,” Mississippi auditor Shad White said in a statement Wednesday. “To date, we have seen no records indicating Mr. Favre knew that TANF was the program that served as the source of the money he was paid.”