Former NFL linebacker Geno Hayes, who was receiving hospice care in South Georgia after experiencing complications from liver disease, died Monday night at age 33, according to multiple news reports.
Frankie Carroll, who coached Hayes at Madison County (Florida) and is the athletic director at Worth County High School in Georgia, told the Tallahassee Democrat he was informed of his former player’s passing by Hayes’ family.
“It’s one of those things where you have to make sure you tell them you love them,” Carroll, who recently visited Hayes, told the Tallahassee newspaper.
Hayes, who was born in Greenville, Florida, spent his final days at his mother’s home in Valdosta, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
Hayes, a former All-American at Florida State, was drafted by Tampa Bay in the sixth round of the 2008 NFL draft and then signed with Chicago in 2012. He last played for Jacksonville in 2014.
“The first diagnosis they gave me was alcoholic cirrhosis. But when we dug in deeper, it became just chronic liver disease, because I don't drink like that. If I did drink, it was just like wine or something like that. But my body is made different. And that's what [my doctor] said — ‘Everybody's made different.'"
Hayes, a father of two children, recently told ESPN reporter Jenna Laine that he had battled liver disease for two years.
“The first diagnosis they gave me was alcoholic cirrhosis. But when we dug in deeper, it became just chronic liver disease, because I don’t drink like that,” Hayes told Laine. “If I did drink, it was just like wine or something like that. But my body is made different. And that’s what [my doctor] said — ‘Everybody’s made different.’”
Hayes said he initially was diagnosed with the illness when he quickly went from weighing 220 pounds to 150. He told ESPN he believed his use of over-the-counter pain medications during his NFL career, as well as his family’s history of liver disease, led to his condition.
“At first, I didn’t let my kids (ages 13 and 8) come around when I was in the hospital,” Hayes told ESPN. “Over time, we eased into them knowing about me, and now they know how to handle things ...”
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