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StaphAseptic™ News
Double ouch: Winslow talks about last year's staph infection
July 27, 2009
By Reid Cherner & Tom Weir
This one will make you cringe.
Former Cleveland Browns tight end talked to Seth Wickersham of ESPN The Magazine about the details of the staph infection he suffered last year and the team's reaction to it.
Winslow had fluid drained from his testicles to play against Washington last October. After the game Winslow said the team made him feel "like a piece of meat." He got a one-game suspension but that was later retracted by the team.
"They had to drain it," Winslow said. "They had a scalpel. They cut into it. I had to clean it every day with a Q-Tip, for two and a half weeks. It was the most painful thing I've ever been through."
Winslow, traded to Tampa Bay, said the way the team treated his situation led to him being estranged from teammates and team officials.
Writes Marla Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal:
Winslow told Wickersham that he woke up one October morning sore in the groin area, but figured the problem would go away. Winslow said by the next morning "my testicles were enlarged, to the point where it hurt to walk."
He was rushed to the Cleveland Clinic. Because the team would not release any details until there was an official diagnosis, rumors spread that Winslow had a sexually transmitted disease. According to Wickersham, Winslow's publicist texted the Browns' PR staff, "Because of speculation (sic) and rumors we are letting the media know that Kellen was treated for a 'staph infection' resulted (sic) from a cut he acquired from a car door -- stretching the truth a bit, but it will dispell (sic) the rumors and inuendos (sic)."
That led to a exchange of 17 texts, some contentious, Wickersham said, which included a protest from a public relations staffer about the reference to a staph infection. At least six Browns have contracted staph since 2003. The diagnosis of staph was later confirmed by doctors and announced by Savage. Wickersham said Winslow passed it on to his wife Janelle. She was also hospitalized and the couple worried about it affecting their ability to have children.
http://blogs.usatoday.com
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