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Bryan Bickell is not alone.He might feel like he is, but hes not.The 30-year-old winger for the Carolina Hurricanes was diagnosed recently with multiple sclerosis. In a statement last week he said he hasnt been feeling right since the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs and could not understand what was happening. He was shocked to learn of the diagnosis but hoped to return to playing after the right amount of medication and treatments.Former Minnesota Wild goaltender Josh Harding was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November 2012 and is now a high school goalie coach. Current Calgary Flames goalie coach Jordan Sigalet was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in late 2003 while he was a junior at Bowling Green University. The disease -- which can cause impaired vision, extreme fatigue and spasms and paralysis of muscles, and has no known cure -- tends to more frequently affect women, Caucasians or people with Northern European heritage.Former Major League Baseball standout Rocco Baldelli had his promising career cut short after being diagnosed with a mitochondrial disease -- which has similar symptoms to multiple sclerosis -- when he was 29.At one point, I didnt know if my body was just failing me and I was going to die, Baldelli said. These are the kind of thoughts -- death, or not being able to walk anymore. You go from worrying about playing center field and where youre going to live in the offseason and winning baseball games, to worrying about what is wrong with me and am I dying?Baldelli first began to feel something was wrong when he was 25.You know, especially as an athlete, when something is seriously wrong, Baldelli said. You get to a point where you just want an answer.Now a 35-year-old first-base coach for the Tampa Bay Rays, Baldelli was considered a generational player after Tampa selected him sixth overall in the 2000 amateur draft. He had all the key tools -- speed, strength, athleticism -- to go along with his ability to hit, run and throw. He was a complete player who earned the nickname The Woonsocket Rocket and was once compared to Joe DiMaggio.During the 2007 season, his legs, specifically his hamstrings, would tighten up, then cramp, and his muscles werent able to recover to a point where he was able to play every day. Baldelli met with team trainers and doctors to pinpoint what was happening. He was tested for multiple conditions by specialists all over the country. No immediate answers came, complicated by the fact that he also had been dealing with Lyme disease since he was 15. It was an emotional time.Then, before the 2008 season, he was diagnosed with a cell disorder channelopathy, a mitochondrial condition that prevented him from being an everyday player in the majors. He was limited to 28 regular-season games with the Rays but still found a way to help the club reach the World Series that October and even homered in Game 5 against the Philadelphia Phillies before Tampa lost that series.There are playbooks for injuries -- broken bones and [torn] MCLs -- but theres no real playbook, no right way or wrong way to proceed in these situations; youre figuring it out as you go, Baldelli said. Its scary, to say the least.Baldelli never wanted to discuss his health. He didnt want anyone to feel bad for him or his situation.When youre playing, its a real delicate thing to talk about, and youre not really sure what to say, how to say it, but its a little easier for me to discuss right now, Baldelli said. When youre still out there and trying to play, its hard to talk about these things. It makes you feel your own mortality.A native Rhode Islander, Baldelli was released by the Rays and signed with the Boston Red Sox in 2009 and played 62 games. Despite treatments and medications, the fatigue created by the disease became too severe, and he was forced to retire in 2010 after returning to the Rays for 10 games. He was 29.During his ordeal, Baldelli never thought about calling it quits until the very end because he was doing what he loved, but major questions remained.How do I go on living the rest of my life? Whats the rest of my life going to be like? Baldelli said.Baldelli still works out every day. He eats well and sleeps right. He has no choice, because if he doesnt live life in such a manner, he wont be able to recover and function well enough.I feel good, he said.When he learned that Bickell, a three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Chicago Blackhawks, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Baldelli understood firsthand the challenges that lie ahead.Its a very scary thing, Baldelli said. These are not things that young, professional athletes are really thinking about. These arent the thoughts that are in your head. Youre out there trying to compete, trying to earn a living and just trying to enjoy a pretty cool life. When you start dealing with these things, it really starts to freak you out. It really starts to make you question whats going on. As an athlete, you usually feel strong and people like to say invincible. You just never really think something like this is going to happen to you, and its not even on your radar.When it does happen, it scared the hell out of me. I was going for a lot of tests, and my body wasnt cooperating. I was feeling things that I knew I shouldnt be feeling.Since these types of diseases affect everyone differently, its tough for Baldelli to lend any advice.Thats a hard question, he said. Theres no right way to approach these situations. You start to re-evaluate a lot of things in your life. You start to think about the rest of your life and how you want to spend it -- the things that are really important to you and the things that are not. You really start to get an early look at these things that probably most people dont really start to contemplate until a little later on in life. You just dont know how much time youre going to have, and you want to make the most of it. Fake College Jerseys . -- The Magic have their first victory of the new year. Fake NCAA Jerseys . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services. https://www.ncaajerseys2020.com/ . Reassurance came from Paul Tesori, his caddie and close friend whose newborn son is in intensive care in a Florida hospital. "Paul sent me a text this morning, just told me he loved me and wanted to go out and fight as hard as I would any other day," Simpson said Sunday after doing just that. College Jerseys Outlet . The 15th-ranked Canadian men lost the opening two games of their European tour: 19-15 to No. 17 Georgia and 21-20 to No. NCAA Jerseys 2020 . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. CINCINNATI -- It took the Bengals a long time to get over that playoff loss to Pittsburgh. The trash talking on social media went on for many weeks, with neither side willing to give up the grudge.The Bengals are minding their manners heading into the rematch -- for now, anyway.Nobody wanted to talk about the Steelers much on Monday, a day after Cincinnati beat the Jets 23-22 at the Meadowlands. Pittsburgh opened at Washington on Monday night.The Bengals play at Pittsburgh next Sunday in a long-awaited game. Personal fouls on Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict and cornerback Adam Pacman Jones moved the Steelers into range for a field goal in the closing seconds of an 18-16 playoff win at Paul Brown Stadium last season.Nobodys forgotten it, of course. Theyre just keeping their thoughts to themselves for now.I aint talking about Pittsburgh, Jones yelled to a group of reporters who started to approach him in the locker room on Monday.When coach Marvin Lewis was asked about the Steelers game three times, he responded with the same six words each time.New team, he said. New season. New year.Its not exactly the same team that lost to the Steellers in the playoffs.dddddddddddd Burfict is serving a three-game suspension from the NFL for player safety violations, including his hit to the head of receiver Antonio Brown during the Bengals playoff meltdown .Burfict and some of the Steelers went at it on Twitter in the offseason.Burfict changed his Twitter photo to one of him hitting Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Pittsburghs DeAngelo Williams tweeted to Burfict: what are you doing when u not costing your team games, and then added that the Steelers were looking forward to playing against him again after your vacation.What stung the most from the playoff loss was how the Bengals frittered it away. After taking a late lead, they fumbled the ball and then helped the Steelers move into field goal range with the two personal fouls in the final minute.I feel if you go in that mindset of trying to retaliate for last year, its not smart, receiver A.J. Green said.---Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '