Tom Brady’s parents were ‘sick as a dog’ with COVID-19 last year

Tom Brady’s father told ESPN this week that he and his wife were “sick as a dog” after contracting the coronavirus last year.

The couple, both 76 years old, got sick right as their son was starting the season with a new NFL team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tom Brady Sr. said in an interview with ESPN on Monday that because of his hospitalization they did not watch the first two games of the season, marking the first time they missed a game in their son’s football career.

The elder Brady was in the hospital for three weeks due to COVID-19. His wife, Galynn Brady, did not require hospitalization, but was still very sick from the virus, Brady Sr. told ESPN Radio’s Mike Greenberg.

“We’ve never missed a game at Michigan or New England or wherever,” Brady told ESPN. “For the first two games when I was in the hospital, I didn’t even care if they were playing — much less missing the game. It was a matter of life and death, just like anybody who goes to the hospital. That’s serious stuff.”

He added that their daughter was able to be there for him during his hospitalization since she was a nurse at the hospital.

Brady said his son was very worried about them and would “FaceTime me every day on his way to and from practice.”

“We’re just representative of 25 million Americans who’ve had this stuff so far, so it’s nothing to shake a stick at,” he said. The United States recently passed 400,000 coronavirus deaths. 

Tom Brady will be going to his 10th Super Bowl after Tampa Bay beat the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday.

“Not knowing where we’re going to start the season out, and being where we are to end the season is just a stunning development as far as I’m concerned. … Getting to the 10th Super Bowl in 19 years of playing is pretty — it’s incomprehensible, actually. It’s beyond anything we could ever imagine,” Brady’s father said.