Cardinals safety Matt Ware won the team’s Ed Block Courage award this year, but we didn’t know the complete reason why until the award foundation ran a bio about Ware this week.
As pointed out by Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic, Ware was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in March of 2009. He was fatigued, lost 15 pounds, and watched his recovery from knee surgery go very slowly before he was diagnosed. The disease is now under control.
The story is more remarkable because Ware never mentioned his struggles to the media, so the press release was the first we heard of it. Ware is a seven-year veteran that has spent his last five seasons with Arizona.
The 33nd annual Ed Block Courage Awards will be given out on March 8. We send our congratulations to Ware and all the winners.