Sam Gash knew he needed to find a doctor.
The former NFL fullback hadn't seen one for five years, thanks to a self-described "old-school" mentality that kept him from seeking medical attention as long as he was feeling fine. But he could no longer ignore significant lower back pain. So he searched for a health care provider near Detroit, where he'd recently moved to be near his son, Isaiah Gash, who was to play football for Michigan as a walk-on.
The provider Gash came across on the internet recommended a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. The results of that test led to a visit with a neurologist, a biopsy and, eventually, Gash's diagnosis with stage 2 prostate cancer, the likely cause of the pain that Gash had assumed was stemming from a football-related injury.
Gash's initial diagnosis was in the fall of 2020. In January of 2021, Gash had surgery to treat the cancer. Next came another surprise: a whopping $60,000 hospital bill.
"They were coming after me; 'You got to pay this, you're running out of time, we got to send it to collections,' " Gash said earlier this month. "I'm like, 'Whoa.' "
In August of that year, Allison Maki, the Lions' chief financial and administrative officer -- and a friend of Gash's from his time as an assistant coach in Detroit -- introduced Gash to a new program designed for eligible former NFL players in Gash's shoes: the NFL's Dedicated Hospital Network Program.
Initiated that year as part of the most recent collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFL Players Association, the NFL DHN provides eligible former players under the age of 65 with access to preventive care, primary medical care and mental health services, with certain services fully covered. This first-of-its-kind program, administered by Cigna, features high-quality medical care providers in every NFL city.
"Allison Maki pushed me," said the 53-year-old Gash. "I didn't really think much of it. I was like, 'Eh I don't know. I don't know if I really want them to know my life.' But thank God that they did do that, because I'd been hurting bad."
Gash, who started his playing career in 1992 and spent time with the Patriots, Bills, Ravens and Saints (he was on the Baltimore team that won Super Bowl XXXV), said he received regular physicals as part of his employment as an assistant coach (he worked for the Jets, Lions and Packers). But those ended when his last coaching job did, with Green Bay following the 2015 season. He said he did have a negative colonoscopy in that span, but did not otherwise have a physical until his cancer diagnosis in 2020.
Thanks to Maki, the next time Gash would need medical help after treating his prostate cancer, he would be able to turn to the NFL DHN. And he didn't have to wait long.
In January of 2022, he had wrist surgery that was connected to his playing days, through the NFL DHN. Then, in February, Gash received a phone call from his brother, Eric, in the middle of the night that completely took him aback: their mother, Betty, had been diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer.
Gash had been out of town. But without hesitation, he packed the car and drove straight to Detroit to see his mom. During that drive, he discovered pain in his throat, raising more concerns about his health.
"I was thinking, 'Man my throat is really sore; I probably need to see somebody, but I'll be alright, I got to go take care of Mom first,' " Gash said. "It was more of a mentality that I had to go be with my mom, because my brother thought that maybe that could be it."
Gash tended to his mother's needs, but he also saw a doctor regarding his throat, again through the NFL DHN -- and the cycle of bad news continued to spin. Not only did he discover he had throat cancer in March, which ultimately required him to undergo 35 rounds of treatment, but during one of his follow-up scans in April, a carcinoma tumor was found in one of his kidneys.
It was his third cancer discovery in less than two years.
"It got pretty hard," Gash said, of his experience with throat cancer. "I lost my taste buds, I had no desire to eat food, I kept spitting it out. My eating faded."
"I think the beginning of June is when I had the feeding tube put in. I lost a ton of weight. At the beginning of January (2022), I think I was about 250 pounds, and now I'm like 185 pounds."
Gash's football career made him familiar with hospital visits. He said he's had "20-plus surgeries" related to his playing days. But his experience with cancer almost turned the hospital into another home.
"I had to do MRI tests, CT tests, PET scans. I'd get X-rays and stuff to see what's happening," Gash said. "Recently, I was there five days a week for seven weeks. I got weekends off."
Adversity has been knocking at Gash's door for as long as he can remember. During his junior year in college, when he was playing football at Penn State, Gash lost his father, Samuel Gash Sr., and his grandmother, who passed away within a few months of each other. He'd planned to dedicate that campaign at Penn State to his loved ones -- and then an injury his season a week before the first game. Gash said he "always appreciated" his coach, the late Joe Paterno, for helping Gash find a psychiatrist.
It seems that appreciation and gratitude still allow Gash to press forward today. Despite all the obstacles, all the medical treatment and all the pain, Gash, a father of seven, seemed focused on the positives in his life.
"I can't complain," he said. "I could, but who's listening? That's the way my mentality is. Every day that I wake up, I'm just thankful. And I get up and try to get out the house and see different things when I can. The medicine makes me tired; I have a hard time remembering, 'Did I take this?' That's the hardest thing, is remembering … But I got a lot of strong people around me."
Recently, the Gash family received the news that Betty is in remission.
"Praise God. It's a miracle, to be honest with you, because she was actually on death's door," Gash said. "But she just has such a great attitude that it rubs off. It's her strength that's carried me through pretty much a lot of stuff."
Gash -- who said he was, at last check, "cancer-free" -- is also thankful for the NFL DHN program. The cost of his subsequent cancer treatments, which could have far surpassed that first bill of $60,000, has tallied roughly $7,000, with the NFL DHN benefits providing significant financial support.
His message to all retired NFL players?
"Use the [program], go to the hospital. If you got your own doctor, that's cool, but get one through the (NFL DHN) network, because in the end it will help you financially, as well as keep you on track with what you need, what you might need, and what you may not know you need."
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