Dominique Easley, who is entering his second year in the National Football League as a defensive lineman for the New England Patriots, faced plenty of challenges as a rookie in the NFL last year. Now the 6’2″, 290-pound Easley is taking on the much larger challenge of helping to find a cure for fibromyalgia through awareness and education. Easley’s sister Destinee is only 16 years old but she has battled fibromyalgia since being diagnosed at age 12. She has endured the chronic pain, headaches, fatigue, chronic pain, dizziness and depression that those with fibromyalgia are all too familiar with.
“The way my sister explains it to me, and from what I’ve seen, she sometimes can’t even walk,” said Easley. “She can’t even get out of her bed sometimes. She can’t even go to school, she misses school. It’s just a chronic pain that she has no explanation for.” In July, Destinee will travel from her home in South Carolina to Boston where she will be treated by Dr. Tad Sztykowski at the Centers for Integrative Medicine and Healing. Dr. Sztykowski specializes in treating fibromyalgia with acunpuncture and natural remedies.
Dominique is now looking to take on a larger role as an advocate for fibromyalgia awareness. His new website easleysawareness.com tells Destinee’s story and lays out his plans to provide education and awareness about fibromyalgia by speaking and advocating for medical treatments and a cure. “What my plan is, is to raise enough money for women that can’t really afford to come out — if Dr. Tad’s treatments work — for women that can’t really afford to come out here, to try to service them and (fund their trip) out here to do the treatments,” Easley said.
We are pleased to see an NFL player step up to promoting public awareness of fibromyalgia. In recent years, the NFL has aggressively supported breast cancer awareness and we hope that Easley’s actions may be the beginning of more awareness for other conditions as well, including fibromyalgia.