Chris Johnson’s wife shares devastating video showing how quickly ALS has ravaged the NFL great

The wife of former NFL running back Chris Johnson has shared a heartbreaking video on social media one week after he revealed he has ALS.

Johnson, the 2009 NFL Offensive Player of the Year, rocked the sporting world when he made the devastating announcement during an interview with fellow football icon Michael Strahan on Good Morning America.

He was only diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), the progressive neurological disease that slowly destroys motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, last year at the age of 39, but has already lost the ability to speak.

In the interview with Strahan, Johnson was using his eyes to trigger a voice machine as he sat alongside his wife Brittany.

Now Brittany has posted powerful footage on Instagram to show just how rapidly her husband has declined since being diagnosed with ALS.

The video captures a healthy Johnson, one of the fastest running backs in NFL history, consoling their daughter Honey after a ‘tough loss at her track meet’ before going to buy fireworks to celebrate the 4th of July.

‘One year. That’s all the time between this video and where we are today,’ Brittany wrote as the caption.

After going on a ‘shopping spree’ with Honey, Johnson then takes part in a video with her as she unboxes her items while ‘playing along with her dreams of becoming a YouTuber.’

His daughter turns to him at one stage and brands him ‘the best dad in the world’ before giving him a hug.

‘It captures exactly who he is, the kind of dad who always shows up, always encourages, and always puts his kids first,’ Brittany added.

‘Looking back now, it’s heartbreaking to see how quickly ALS can take away so many of the things most of us never think twice about.

Brittany concluded the post by thanking people for participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise money for ALS in light of her husband’s announcement, along with ESPN host Pat McAfee – who has pledged to donate $250 for each of the next 1,000 people who complete the challenge.

Johnson’s tragic Good Morning America interview left fans in tears as they watched him explain his diagnosis and the subsequent effects on his body.

When asked why he had chosen now to share his story, Johnson revealed: ‘Because if sharing my story helps even one person get diagnosed sooner, inspires more research or gives another family hope, then it’s worth it.’

The ex-NFL star was in what he describes as the ‘prime of his life’ when he received the diagnosis and had been working out every day and spending time with his wife and four children.

‘I first noticed weakness in my right hand,’ he told Strahan. ‘At first it was little things like, my grip didn’t feel right. And I wasn’t as strong as I’d always been.’

His wife Brittany explained how she had initially thought it was a simpler, football-related injury like a pinched nerve, before their world began to unravel.

‘We hoped it was something else, but after thorough testing, they finally came down with a diagnosis of ALS,’ Johnson then explained. ‘They told us about a medication that might extend life by a few months, then they told us to get our affairs in order.

‘It was hard hearing that but after watching Good Morning America and seeing Dr Merit [Cudkowicz] with Eric Dane, we reached out to her. She was willing to think more creatively and offer experimental treatments that might help and advance research.’

Johnson only ended his professional career in 2017 after three seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, totaling 11,000 yards in his ten years in the league.

He is best known for his six seasons with the Tennessee Titans, during which he was voted to the Pro Bowl three times and won Offensive Player of the Year, before moving to the New York Jets.

Brittany went on to reveal that she was initially ‘in denial’ about the diagnosis, and that her thoughts immediately went to their four children.

‘You want it to be anything else, you want the doctors to be wrong,’ she revealed. ‘The life that we previously had is now a thing of the past, but we’re still hopeful that a breakthrough will happen, and that God, a miracle will happen.’

Chris added that Brittany ‘hasn’t left my side’ since his diagnosis, and that his children give him reason to carry on.

‘It’s continued to progress much faster than I imagined,’ Johnson explained. ‘I want people to understand just how quickly ALS can attack your body.

‘Just over a year ago I was picking up my seven-year-old daughter so she could make a wish with her birthday cake. Today, I couldn’t do that.’