Just one day before the Carolina Panthers' home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in late October, veteran defensive end Henry Anderson experienced a scary situation that placed him on the non-football-injury list.
Anderson revealed to reporters on Wednesday in the locker room that he suffered a "minor stroke" while at home. Fortunately, his wife, Saryn, was at home when it occurred and helped take care of him, driving him to a local hospital in Charlotte where he would be hospitalized for "a few days".
"[I felt] numbness and my extremities lost feeling in them just randomly," Anderson explained. "So I knew something was up. It was definitely something I wasn't expecting."
Earlier this week, the Panthers designated Anderson to return to practice which opens a 21-day window for him to be activated. Despite how scary the situation was, Anderson is ready to get back onto the field after missing the last six games. He stated that he feels good and is ready to play, but that ultimately, "it's not my call".
As far as his health is concerned, he is good to go and has been cleared by the doctors. Hence why the team designated him to return to practice. Anderson also explained the process of being medically cleared and how the doctors were unable to identify what caused the minor stroke to occur.
"Did a bunch of testing. Blood tests and stuff like that. I don't know what all the tests were that they did, but just trying to make sure that I don't have any conditions with my blood or heart or anything that predisposed me to another one. The tests came back negative. Everything looked good. Spoke to a bunch of different doctors and just wanted to make sure that everything was good to go. There wasn't anything that they could point to and say that's what caused it."
The Panthers will fly out to Seattle on Saturday for this week's game against the Seahawks. Kickoff is set for 4:25 p.m. EST.
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