“The doctors are amazed. They can’t believe I’m doing this good,” former Cleveland Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar said back in November 2025 after undergoing a successful liver transplant. The journey, however, was the toughest battle Kosar faced in his post-retirement life. The NFL legend had been dealing with liver issues but initially brushed them off. Things escalated while he was attending a Browns vs. New York Jets game, when his body essentially gave out on him.

Then, while traveling to Las Vegas to attend Super Bowl LVIII, Kosar fell severely ill and was reportedly hospitalized for several days. Fast forward to now, and the QB has come back stronger, believing that God wanted him here. In the process, however, the veteran endured multiple health issues, including Parkinson’s disease and dementia. During a conversation with Sage Steele, Kosar recalled his health battles while revealing how he overcame his neurological issues.

“I was more Parkinsonian-sounding then, and I was more dementia sounding with limited memory 10 years ago,” Kosar told Sage. “So I really do believe you could regenerate and you could turn around. That’s a big statement to say you could regenerate, but I am at least slowing down the deterioration that was happening. And that’s, to me, been game-changing to just have my body back some, but then to have my mind back in the game.”

While battling liver issues, in February 2024, an independent NFL doctor diagnosed Bernie Kosar with Parkinson’s disease. The Browns’ legend had spent over a decade in the NFL taking multiple hits.

A couple of years ago, doctors confirmed some symptoms associated with the early stages of Parkinson’s, including tremors, depression, anxiety, insomnia, stiffness, and impaired cognition and memory in Kosar. The doctor prescribed him several pills, while the 62-year-old later confirmed:

“I’ve got early dementia. I got early Parkinson’s. I’ve got a lot of stuff going on, but I’m telling you – I haven’t felt this good in years.”

Now, Bernie Kosar has regained his health after undergoing a successful liver transplant and overcoming memory and cognitive problems. However, during his conversation with Sage Steele, Kosar also revealed that there were instances when he would freeze for a few moments while speaking, leaving him anxious and fearful.

“If we were doing this 3 to 5 years ago, even that night 10 years ago, I was a couple second delay,” Kosar added. “And people, you know, when I was younger, it’d be all the people say, ‘Oh, look at that wise old man. He ponders his answer.’ It’s only because we’re idiots and we couldn’t get from our brain to our mouth.

“We weren’t pondering anything. We just couldn’t get the thought from the midbrain to our tongue for that. And that made incredible anxiety, incredible fear to go out. Look, I know you’re sage still. Okay. But in the heat of battle out at night to get it from here to your tongue, okay, was almost impossible.”

That said, when Sage expressed her amazement at how Bernie Kosar endured and overcame so many health issues, the NFL legend admitted that it was God who wanted him to be here. And while reflecting on his physical and neurological health battles, Kosar acknowledged that his recovery was nothing short of a miracle.