A former wide receiver for USC and the Pittsburgh Steelers testified Monday that a freak accident at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center left his wife with some of the same health issues that have plagued him and other plaintiffs in one of the head-trauma lawsuits filed against the NFL.
Calvin Sweeney played nine years for the Steelers and was a teammate of Steeler center Mike Webster, who died of CTE in September 2002 at age 50. Sweeney said that although he was an offensive player, the frequent hits he took during tackles have taken their toll.
“Memory loss is a big part of what I am going through right now,” said the 62-year-old View Park resident, whose testimony came in trial of his wife’s lawsuit against the University of California Board of Regents. She is a plaintiff in his lawsuit.
Zivia Sweeney last week told the Los Angeles Superior Court jury deciding her case that she was on her third and last day of specialized radiation treatment at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in March 2013 when her regular nurse pulled back a pole attached to her gurney. The 61-year-old USC accounting professor said the pole held a pump through which she could inject herself with morphine to ease the pain during her treatments, which required rods to be inserted vaginally.
Defense attorney Kenneth Maranga has denied that the educator suffered a brain injury. He said the heaviest part of the pump struck the pillow on the gurney and that the plaintiff initially only complained of abdominal pain.
Calvin Sweeney said he and his spouse met more than 40 years ago when both were students at USC. He said that prior to her hospital accident, they used to socialize, travel and “have a good time” as a couple.
“That’s been taken away,” he said, adding that his wife is often forgetful.
“She repeats herself quite a lot and forgets where she puts stuff,” he said, adding that she also now has problems with dizziness and headaches and is sometimes unsteady on her feet.
“We were once out walking and she about passed out,” he said. “She grabbed onto me.”
The former athlete said his wife sometimes bumps into things while strolling and occasionally has problems with vertigo and gets lost while driving.
“If she has one of those moments, she pulls over and calls,” he said.
Calvin Sweeney said his wife also is sometimes moody and argumentative.
“She didn’t used to be that way,” he said.
He said they also do not vacation or play golf as much as before.
The couple’s son, 29-year-old Jared Sweeney, also testified and said he has seen his mother cry because of her pain. He said she sometimes pauses in her class lectures because she forgets something she wanted to say.
He said that like his father, he also played college football, but could not finish school because he was seriously injured in an auto accident caused by a drunken driver.
Calvin Sweeney was on the Pittsburgh team that bested the Rams in Super Bowl XIV at the Rose Bowl in January 1980. In December 1983, he caught the last touchdown pass Terry Bradshaw threw in the NFL. Bradshaw left the game with an injury and never played again.
–City News Service