Patriots Veteran Reveals Shocking Illness That Threatened His Life in 2023

The New England Patriots were one of the worst teams in 2023, as they went 4-13 and finished last in the AFC East.

This marked New England missing the playoffs for the second straight year and three times in the past four years. They decided it was time to move on from former head coach Bill Belichick.

But Belichick wasn't the only person who went through a tough time in 2023. Christopher Price of the Boston Globe released a remarkable story on Calvin Anderson's traumatic 2023 campaign.

Patriots News: Calvin Anderson Had to Battle a Rare Case of Malaria

It was late July and training camp was set to start. OT Calvin Anderson was ready to compete after he signed a two-year, $7 million deal with $4 million guaranteed.

But unfortunately, things went left. Anderson and his wife Sherée Lanihun-Anderson took a summer trip to Nigeria as they were doing some philanthropic work.

Calvin was feeling under the weather but didn't think much of it. In the early morning of July 22, Sherée got a thermometer and stuck it in Calvin's mouth. It read 104.5 degrees and she immediately urged him to go to the hospital.

He ended up taking his wife's advice and checked into Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Doctors ran tests and found out that Calvin had malaria after getting bitten by a mosquito in Nigeria.

There has never been a case of malaria in the NFL, so the Pats placed Calvin on the Non-Football Injury list.

After four-plus days in the hospital, Calvin was released. It took him a while to get cleared to begin physical activity but he ended up getting on the field right before the start of the season.

Even without training camp, Calvin managed to play every snap in the season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Shortly after, Calvin struggled to stay on the field and was eventually moved to a reserve role. The hope was that he would build his cardio up and fight his way back onto the field but that wasn't the case.

During a practice in November, Calvin was hit in the chest by a defensive player and everything changed.

He said, "I started feeling like a chest pain that I had never felt before. I asked one of the trainers, ‘Hey, I’m having a little chest pain. I don’t know what it is. Do you guys have any thoughts about that?’"

After some tests were run by a cardiologist, they determined it was a heart contusion caused by the hit. The Patriots ended up placing Calvin on injured reserve, ending his season after five games and two starts.

As we head into the 2024 campaign, Calvin is now healthy and ready to bounce back after a crazy 2023 season. The Patriots certainly need depth at tackle and he can provide that for them.

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