Former 49ers great Dwight Clark shares candid update on battle with ALS
It was in March when former San Francisco 49ers great Dwight Clark announced he has ALS. Since then, he has lost a lot of weight and has a hard time picking up things.
But Clark came across as upbeat when he was honored at Sunday's 49ers game against the Dallas Cowboys, and then Tuesday with a Bay Area radio show, KNBR’s Murph & Mac Show. He raved about what the 49ers did and his bond with the fans.
"It was spectacular," Clark said of Dwight Clark Day. "I thought the 49ers did an unbelievable job of putting that together."
He also talked about what ALS (commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, which attacks the body's nervous system, weakens muscles and has no cure) has done to him in the past few months.
“This is one of those tough battles that if you beat this, you’re in a very small percentage. I’m just hoping that it plateaus at some point before I get all the way to the end,” Clark said in the interview. “Where I can’t move, and talk, and all that. But my wife (Kelly) has been incredible. She’s taken over the gigantic load of having to do everything because I can barely pick up a bag right now.
“I’m losing strength and I’ve lost 80 pounds, if you can believe that. But I’m still able to use my hands a little bit. Walk a little bit. But this stuff is no joke, man. They need to find a cure to this thing because it is torture. It’s just going through all the different phases. I wake up every morning and I take that first step to see if it’s going to work. And it’s ‘OK, still walking today.’ ”
Clark joked that the 49ers cut him off before he was finished with his speech. He talked about what kind of reception he got from fans and how they have a "signature moment together that kicked Dallas’ ass and took us to the Super Bowl."
He was talking, of course, about "The Catch," one of the NFL's most iconic moments, when he caught a touchdown pass from Joe Montana in the back of the end zone to beat the Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game and send San Francisco to Super Bowl XVI against the Cincinnati Bengals.
As Montana was introducing Clark to the crowd Sunday, he said “He’s very well known to all you 49ers fans — and, oh, yeah, to you Cowboys fans, too. Any time you turn on the NFL and you’re watching TV, you’ll see him flying high in the back of that end zone and making one of the most iconic catches in NFL history.”
Clark told Murph & Mac that ALS has given him a different outlook on life, and that he's enjoying the world as much as he can.
"And drinking as much good wine as I can. That part hasn’t changed. That helps take the edge off," he said. "So that’s pretty good."
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