September 20, 1992: In a split second, Don Majkowski’s life changed forever. To the world, it was simply a torn ankle ligament, but the nine surgeries, one fusion, 13 screws and two titanium plates say otherwise. The reality was… The Majik Man’s magic had slowly been engulfed whole by his own body.
Today, Majkowski is a product of 22 surgeries, unable to properly sit, stand or even turn his head. He’s been out of work since 2008. His only companion has been his wife Kelly, his two children, his widowed mother, his medicines, and the lost memories of the gridiron. But, unfortunately, an athlete can only go so far without doing what he loves the most. Rendered immobile in 2009 and 2010 owing to back pain, he still remembers watching the likes of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers from his couch. “It was terrible. I lost two years of my kids. I couldn’t do anything,” he had painfully revealed in 2021.
Naturally, depression creeped in, unnoticed and intense. Majkowski became heavily reliant on pain medication. It slowly turned into an addiction. Now almost a decade later, thankfully the retired veteran is no longer that old version of himself. The pain comes and goes, yes. But, now Majkowski is no longer afraid. In fact, one of his missions is to talk about his ordeal and hope that it brings awareness. On May 31, celebrating Mental Health Awareness month, the former quarterback did exactly that as he appeared for an interview with ESPN Madison.
Captioned, “Don’t try to do it yourself.” #Packers legend Don Majkowski offers a strong message to remind anyone struggling with mental health that they are never alone. The former Packer QB opened up about the hurdles he faced post-career #MentalHealthMatters | #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth”, the video showed the 61-year-old revealing, “After I retired, I went through about five really difficult years during which I had severe depression. And I tried to fight through those years all by myself by toughing it out, being a tough guy like football players or men in general are. I tried to overcome the depression by myself.”
But Majkowski also explained a remedy for it: “So, my message is…Now that I finally went and got the proper professional help that I needed…I encourage anybody who’s, like, suffering from depression to just humble yourself and don’t worry about your ego or anything.” The Green Bay Packers Hall of Famer also added, “You have to just humble yourself and go get professional help and find out what’s causing your, you know, the deep root of your issues. Maybe you can get on the proper medication…antidepressants helped me greatly, and or whatever, whatever illness that you’re going through.”
“𝘿𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛.”#Packers legend Don Majkowski offers a strong message to remind anyone struggling with mental health that they are never alone.
The former Packer QB opened up about the hurdles he faced post-career … pic.twitter.com/iXpdQ9fWwy
— ESPN Madison (@ESPNMadison) May 31, 2025
It’s inspiring, to say the least. What’s more?
The Packers legend’s fight for his rights
It was not just the injuries that hurt Don Majkowski. It was also the struggle to cover his medical expenses. After the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2020, the quarterback’s disability payments were reportedly cut, forcing him to sue the NFL and the NFL Players Association.
As per reports, in the previous CBA, “if a player was approved for social security disability then he automatically qualified for NFL disability.” However, with the emergence of the new one, The Majik Man found himself stranded. “You can look up old documents. It’s noted that we were promised that. In the new collective bargaining agreement, when those players signed it, they had no idea. It was in tiny letters, one little paragraph, that we are going to take away from the permanently disabled guys what they get from social security. The $2,700 a month. Nobody knew that. So, all the current players just signed.”
“They got great new benefits. They got increased salaries. Everything was good in the new collective bargaining agreement except they’re taking away from the guys that are totally and permanently disabled guys. So that’s why I filed the lawsuit with my attorney and I was the main plaintiff representing these 400 guys,” he had revealed.
Majkowski, while talking with FOX Sports in 2013 had earlier revealed, “It’s absolutely ridiculous what former players have to go through to get workers’ comp covered just to win your case,” Majkowski said then. “I’ve talked to so many guys going through the same thing. Owners are trying to eliminate workers’ comp for former players because it costs too much. They don’t want to pay for any future health care.”
While his lawsuit was ultimately dismissed “without prejudice” in May 2021, one thing’s clear: Majkowski is not one to shy away from challenges.
The post Forced to Pay for Surgery After NFL Rejected Payments, Packers Legend Sends Strong Message to America on Health Struggles appeared first on EssentiallySports.
