Jerry Wunsch used to plow into the biggest, strongest players the National Football League had to offer.
Now, the onetime Seahawks offensive tackle struggles to walk a few blocks, climb stairs at his Florida home, or tie his size-17 shoes. The 43-year-old divorced father of three suffers debilitating headaches, forgets what he did a week ago, can’t keep a steady job and worries his two teenage sons and younger daughter will someday need to put him in institutional care.
His knees and lower back strain as a wincing Wunsch, 6-foot-6 and pushing 400 pounds, rises from a chair at his lawyer’s office in Edmonds.