Ex-Browns QB Bernie Kosar Suffers Liver Failure, Citing Early Signs of Parkinson’s: Report

Former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar is battling multiple medical issues, including liver failure and the early signs of Parkinson’s disease, he said in an interview with Cleveland Magazine.

Kosar, 60, said he was placed on a liver transplant list in late spring and that “an independent NFL doctor” diagnosed him with Parkinson’s disease in mid-February. The 12-year NFL quarterback said his body “gave out” during an appearance before the Browns’ Dec. 28 game against the New York Jets in Cleveland.

“I really felt like I wasn’t going to make it home from the Jets game,” Kosar said. “But I stuck it out and avoided the doctors until the New Year, when I went to the hospital and had a massive blood transfusion.

“It was like, ‘How do you live? How do you move? Because your hemoglobin is so low.'”

According to the report, doctors warned Kosar in January that he likely needed a new liver. He fell ill again during Super Bowl LVIII festivities in Las Vegas and spent several days in the hospital.

The condition worsened in March. Kosar said, “I looked like death,” but he has since improved, his doctor told the newspaper.

“I wish you could have seen me three months ago,” Kosar says. “Actually, maybe not, because I looked like death. I felt like death. E. Coli sepsis. Heart problems. And I really thought I needed a liver transplant as soon as possible. I was in bad shape.”

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(Photo: Eric Espada/Getty Images)