Former Cleveland Brown survives coronavirus

By STEVE KING

As far as the Browns – and their extended family through their alumni – are concerned, the dreaded coronavirus pandemic has hit home.

Mark Campbell, a Michigan product and undrafted free agent who was a tight end for the expansion-era Browns during their first four seasons (1999-2002) and spent 10 seasons overall in the NFL after then playing with the Buffalo Bills and New Orleans Saints, nearly died after contracting COVID-19.

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Now living back in the Detroit area where he grew up, he was admitted to a hospital there with a temperature of 103.1 degrees and spent five days before being released. Fortunately, he is back home after dropping 17 pounds off his 6-foot-5 frame (he now weighs about 250) and estimates that he’s about 85 percent back to normal.

Campbell’s odyssey is detailed in a lengthy, well-written story by staffer Dave Birkett on the front page of the sports section in the April 8 edition of the Detroit Free Press. Its title, “ ‘It … Kicked My Ass,’ ” is a quote from Campbell that indicates just seriously ill he was.

According to the story, Campbell, now 44, said he started to feel poorly on March 15 shortly after he returned home from a family skiing trip to northern Michigan. He became worried when he kept feeling worse and worse and finally went to a drive-through testing site at a local hospital to get checked out.

Birkett writes: “Medical personnel on site took his vitals and asked a series of questions about his health. He hadn’t been around anyone who had traveled – or really, anyone but his family. They told him he likely had COVID-19, but no underlying medical conditions and no family history of heart trouble, he didn’t qualify for a test. The only thing to do was go home and self-isolate. For the next 11 days, that’s what Campbell did. He locked himself in the basement, with his wife and kids upstairs, and spent most of the time sleeping.”

By Day 12, he was struggling to breathe and went with his wife to the hospital, where he was eventually admitted.

“She turned around and she was obviously upset, and I remember telling her just that I loved her,” Campbell told Birkett. “And for the first time in my life, I remember thinking to myself, ‘Am I going to see her again?’

“Now, that may sound super-dramatic and I don’t want it to sound super-dramatic, but that’s how I felt at the time.

“I kind of get emotional just thinking about it … At the time, it was a hopeless feeling. I didn’t go there with hope, excited to check in. I went there (and) I knew I was not in good shape.”   

The story states that Campbell, who is the CEO of a medical supply company he started in 2009, is one of 17,000 Michiganders who have tested positive for the coronavirus. Michigan has about four times as many positives tests for the disease than Ohio.

“I played 10 years in the NFL, (I’m) pretty tough,” Campbell told Birkett. “I was thinking basically, ‘I’m going to grind all this out.’

“It kicked my ass.”

Indeed, but thankfully, though, not totally.

Former Cleveland Brown survives coronavirus was written by Steve King

Cleveland Browns News

• “Roger Goodell informs the Browns and all NFL teams they must conduct the NFL draft remotely” (cleveland.com)
• Joe Thomas named to AP writer’s All-decade team
• “No remote meetings yet, as start of offseason program delayed” (BrownsZone)
• “Browns banking one-year deals will pay off for defense, now and later” (ESPN) 
• What should the Browns do about left tackle (Browns Daily Dose)
• “Browns’ Joe Thomas and Alex Mack named to 2010s NFL All-Decade Team” (WKYC) 
• “Ohio governor on NFL football by September: ‘I just don’t know’” (PFT) –

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