FRISCO, Texas -- If Travis Frederick were dealing with a knee injury or a hamstring strain, his Dallas Cowboys teammates would have a better feel for what he is going through.
Because Frederick has been diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disease that affects the nerves, his teammates are left hoping for the best.
“I don’t know if I really understand the level of which it is,” right tackle La’el Collins said, “but I know it’s really serious.”
Frederick has been in the hospital, receiving treatment after being diagnosed a few days ago. He said in a statement that he was feeling better than he had in the past few weeks, when he was experiencing tingling in his arms and a lack of strength that was initially thought to be the result of stingers suffered in practice.
“Training camp, he really didn’t know what was going on, and for them to kind of get to the bottom of it was at least closure for him, that he knew what was going on with his body,” said Pro Bowl right guard Zack Martin, who has talked to Frederick every day since he was admitted to the hospital.
Owner and general manager Jerry Jones said the team has not started to think about life without Frederick as of yet, with the focus on his personal well-being.
Joe Looney will replace Frederick in the starting lineup and Martin would serve as an in-house emergency option, but the Cowboys will keep their eyes on the cuts from other teams and look at potential low-end trades for a backup. Dustin Stanton is serving as the backup center at the moment.
“First and foremost, we’re thinking about him and his family as people more than any football aspect of this,” coach Jason Garrett said. “We’ll just see how he comes back from this. He’s handled it really well up to this point. I think he’s in a good mental frame of mind.”
Jones and Martin said Frederick is in good spirits as he starts the rehab process. Because of the nature of the illness, there is no timetable on a potential return, according to Jones.
“You hate to see guys go through things like this and like I said during training camp, he really didn’t know what was going on and was kind of telling us how he was feeling,” Martin said. “It was tough that he didn’t know until a couple days ago. But we’re thankful that he knows and that he can get treatment and get help and hopefully take some time and be back when he is ready.”
Said Sean Lee, “When it comes to football, football doesn’t matter. It’s making sure that his long-term health is all right and he’s going to be all right and there for his family. Yeah, sure, we don’t know the answers to this, but we know this: He is an unbelievable person with unbelievable character and he’s going to handle this so well and be an inspiration for us.”
