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Former NFL player helps others understand mental wellness

CHARLOTTE — Brandon Marshall played 13 seasons in the NFL and is a six-time Pro-Bowler, but he struggled with a personality disorder for years.

“I couldn’t understand how I'd gone so long, suffering and suffering in silence,” Marshall said. “Just taking a month-and-a-half, it transformed my life.”

He said recognizing the power of mental wellness changed his life.

“If someone would have come to me before I was diagnosed and said, ‘What do you think mental health means and how to be mentally fit?’ I would've said, ‘To be strong and to mask pain,’” Marshall said.

In 2011, he was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, which was after he had depression and mood changes.

“You can't show any signs of weakness on the field,” Marshall said. “You can't show it in the locker room. You can't show it in the training room. You can't do it.”

He said his conditions affected him on the field.

“Where I literally couldn’t get the pain and the turmoil out of my head and out of my heart,” he said. “And I tried to shake it off. And I dropped another ball and then I dropped another ball, and I was, like, ‘Holy crap, I can’t do this.’”

Marshall got treatment that year at McLean Hospital, which is a world-class mental health treatment facility.

“I was there for three months, and it took me a month-and-a-half to finally stop doing this and then do that,” Marshall said. “You have to own that and when I did that, everything changed for me.”

He is now an advocate and educates others about the strength of mental well-being.

Marshall fights for better access to help and was a panelist Wednesday for an event at the Bank of America Stadium facilitated by the Panthers Black Employee Resource Group, STRIDE.

It focused on tackling mental health in the black community.

Organizers said they hope to help erase the stigma around mental health and to equip people with the tools they need to thrive.

“A lot of times we are overexposed to trauma, compared to other communities,” said Ese Ighedosa, with STRIDE, which supports health and wellness. “So, I think it’s important to talk about the tools and that we don’t repeat history, and we make our future even better.”

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