Published: November 21, 2009 11:58 pm      

NFL: Crohn’s among Garrard’s foes

David Garrard has always gotten ahead on gut instincts. When the Jacksonville Jaguars chose Byron Leftwich with the seventh pick in the 2003 Draft, Garrard didn’t flee for a chance to lead another franchise, even though some suggested a change of scenery. The East Carolina product thought he could eventually win the starting role.

His gut was right. Garrard outplayed Leftwich in the preseason of 2007, and the latter was released. The move paid big financial dividends as the team rewarded Garrard with a six-year, $60-million contract extension before last season. Today, he’ll lead the Jaguars against the Bills, looking for a victory to stay in the thick of the AFC playoff race.

But in the summer of 2004, Garrard’s gut was telling him something else — he needed help. After what Garrard assumed was just an upset stomach, the quarterback started on an excruciating rollercoaster of pain.

“It would hit me. Really bad gassy stomach pains,” the quarterback said. “Usually, when something like that happens, you just relieve yourself and it goes away. This didn’t. And the next time it would come back it would be 10 times worse. I felt like I was going to explode.”

After going to see a doctor, Garrard was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, an incurable disorder that can inflame the small and large intestines and cause diarrhea, abdominal cramps, weight loss, and numerous complications, such as bowel obstruction and abscesses.

Having a football player’s mentality, Garrard dismissed the rare condition and assumed he’d quickly get treated.

“I wasn’t too worried, that’s for sure,” he said. “I told the doctor to give me a pill and I’d move on with my life. But once I started reading about it, I realized how serious it was.”

So serious, in fact, that Garrard dropped 35 pounds and eventually needed surgery. He still has a four-inch scar that stands as a reminder of the episode.

The battle won’t ever end. He has recovered, but still gets treatments every eight weeks in which he gets fed intravenously. The most recent came Tuesday morning, interrupting Garrard from ESPN’s 24 Hours of Basketball marathon. He happened to be sleeping during his treatment while Niagara met Drexel on national TV.

“I caught some other games, but I was out during that one,” he said. “It’s kind of nice, because I get to catch up on my rest.”

But while the disease hasn’t presented major obstacles in recent years, he’s felt strongly about giving support, becoming a national spokesperson for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America.

For every TD Garrard scores — in the air or with his legs — Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc. will make a donation of $10,000 to the CCFA for research and education. Garrard has nine scores heading into today’s game against the Bills.

“I’m on a pretty good platform to get people to listen to me,” he said. “There are a lot of kids affected by this and it’s not easy to talk about. It’s hard to say why you’re not eating what everybody else is eating or why your stomach always hurts.

“There’s always peer pressure at that age, and I want them to know they can be confident. I hope they think, David’s dealing with the same thing.”