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Bruins' Jack Edwards finally opens up on slurred speech
Boston.com  

Bruins' Jack Edwards finally opens up on slurred speech

The longtime broadcaster fills fans in on the news.

HockeyFeed

HockeyFeed

Longtime NESN broadcaster Jack Edwards is opening up to fans a bit this week and discussing the concern that some members of the Boston Bruins' fanbase has for his health.

You see, the past couple years Edwards has developed a slower, slurred down speech pattern compared to his bombastic style in the past. Frankly, it often sounds like Edwards has been drinking or like he has suffered a stroke. The 66 year old maintains that neither is the case though and that medical doctors do not have an explanation for his suddenly slurred speech.

“I did not have some kind of accident,” he says to Boston.com. “I do not have cancer. I don’t have dementia. I haven’t had a stroke. All of that’s been confirmed by Mass. General neurology.

“They’ve done tests that seem like I’m going through some sort of science-fiction scene, but it’s really true. The images of my brain literally reveal nothing. That’s my joke with them.”

“It doesn’t fit in any slot,” he says. “There have been a couple of guesses, but they haven’t made a definitive diagnosis and they’ve been working on me for a year and a half. It’s very frustrating, as you can imagine, for me to have this slowdown in my speech.”

The 66 year old Edwards has no plan to retire early due to his ongoing speech issues and says he's treating it like an in-season injury that he plans on recovering from. He's undergoing daily speech therapy session to re-train his brain and get himself back to normal function.

“I thank all the people who are working on this problem and helping me, and they seem to feel and I anecdotally feel that I’m making incremental progress,” he says. “The brain is a funny thing, especially mine. It is still possible to train a 66½-year-old brain to do the same things you used to do in a different way. And that’s what we’re working on through speech therapy.”

“I’m treating it like an in-season injury, something that’s going to get better,” he says. “If I, or NESN, decide that I’m hurting the product or costing the fans an enjoyable experience, I will say goodbye. But we haven’t had any discussions like that.

“l love my job, but I know that retirement isn’t that far off,” he adds. I’m going to turn 67 next month. I hope to make a graceful exit when the day comes.”

Source: Boston.com