New England Patriots star Calvin Anderson has returned to the Boston hospital that saved his life after suffering a near-fatal bout with malaria last year.
The 28-year-old and his wife Sheree visited Nigeria on a charity trip during the offseason last year.
Anderson contracted the disease during a visit, but only after returning to Massachusetts did his symptoms begin to appear.
A thermometer showed his temperature was extremely dangerous: 104.5 degrees, and his wife forced him to go to the hospital.
Malaria is caused by a parasite that is transmitted through mosquito bites. Infected people may experience fever, chills, and flu-like illness.
Calvin Anderson returned to the hospital that saved his life after contracting malaria last year
Anderson detailed his recovery in a video posted to his X account earlier this month.
It was less than a week before the Patriots began training camp, and Anderson was initially skeptical about seeking treatment.
“I was thinking, ‘Training camp is coming up. I don’t have time to be sick,’ he said. ‘I told my wife I’m going back to sleep.’ I’ll be fine”.
But fortunately he trusted his intuition. He wouldn’t be here if she didn’t.
‘There was one night in the hospital where I told my wife I didn’t know if I was going to survive the next day.
‘The fever is so important that it is difficult to think beyond how you feel at that moment.
‘But I managed to get here and I recovered and now I am a much stronger and more resilient person. So the truth is that I got through all that and I’m grateful I did.’
Anderson spent about a week at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and played in five games last season. However, his year ended prematurely due to an unrelated heart condition.
Anderson credited his wife Sheree for saving his life by taking him to the hospital.
But he returned to Newton-Wellesley Hospital on Thursday to thank the doctors who saved his life. He also brought signed Patriots jerseys.
“I’m grateful for this staff,” Anderson told the Boston Globe Thursday.
‘I recognize their faces and I think back to the first time I saw some of them, and I was in a very different state of mind.
“But I’m very, very grateful that they were able to get me out of where I was (and) feel good again.”
Anderson spoke with ten staff members, including Dr. David Morris, who was one of the first to help the 6-foot-5, 305-pound tackle.
‘He’s a great guy. “I’m impressed not only with the physical strength of him but also the emotional strength of him,” Morris said.