Titans Odom cured of sleep apnea that killed sister
Thanks to surgery that removed a bone from his nose and fixed a crooked septum in June, the sleep apnea that kept the Titans defensive end from taking a deep breath or sleeping for more than a couple hours is gone. Now he can sleep more than five hours at a stretch.
Tragically, his 24-year-old sister Melissa died of complications from sleep apnea days before training camp opened in July. Odom, 23, missed the first three days of camp to be with his family before returning for his second NFL season.
He said Monday that being with his teammates has helped him through his grief.
“Nobody ever died close to me like that, and I kind of dealt with it pretty good. I couldn’t deal with it if I wasn’t here. It’s taken my mind off of it, and I don’t think about it as much. I couldn’t have done it if I wasn’t here,” Odom said.
Coach Jeff Fisher said Odom has a had a lot to overcome.
“At the start of camp, it was difficult on him. He was not in training camp shape when he returned, for obvious reasons. But he’s worked himself into shape now, and he’s doing the things we expect him to do,” Fisher said.
Odom had known he suffered from sleep apnea, which stops people from breathing while they sleep, since his sophomore year at Alabama. Doctors gave him a machine to blow air through his nose, but it didn’t help him sleep because the air dried out his nasal passages and led to sores.
It didn’t stop him from racking up 21 sacks, 26 tackles for losses and 40 quarterback pressures in college, and the Titans drafted him in the second round last year with the 57th pick overall.
The 6-foot-5, 274-pound Odom led the rookies with 11 quarterback pressures and had two sacks and a forced fumble. But he was so tired he would stand up during meetings to keep from falling asleep.
“I always felt dead tired,” Odom said. “I’d go to the sideline, catch my breath and come back out. The first play, I’m dead tired again.”
After Reggie White died Dec. 26, Odom’s agent, Richard Rosa, pressured the young lineman to treat his sleep apnea, and Odom went to an ear, nose and throat specialist.
“He said the reason I couldn’t breathe was because I had a bone blocking one of my nostrils and my septum was crooked. He wanted to get it fixed right away,” Odom said.
A sleep study found that Odom stopped breathing 37 times during the session, and surgery was performed June 27 after the Titans wrapped up their minicamps. The doctor removed the bone that was growing into his cheekbone along with Odom’s adenoids and tonsils.
The two weeks after surgery weren’t easy.
He couldn’t sleep because of the swelling and had to breathe through his mouth. His throat was too painful to swallow, let alone eat or drink, so he had to go to a hospital for intravenous fluids when he passed out on the Fourth of July.
Two days later, he went to the doctor because blood started pouring out of his nose whenever he bent over.
Finally, he was able to start breathing through his nose.
“I’m feeling alive. I’m feeling like I’ve got more endurance. I can breathe. I can catch my breath in between plays and on the sideline. Every time I come off the bench, I feel like I’m fresh again,” Odom said.
The difference has been notable for a player who ran a 4.75-second 40-yard dash and impressed the Titans with his 37-inch vertical leap. Defensive line coach Jim Washburn, who worked him out before the draft on a muddy field in Alabama, has seen a dramatic difference in his energy.
“I think he just sort of survived for the last five or six years. He told me he just tried to make it. When he started practice, he started with the idea that he had a marathon to run at practice and he had to pace himself,” Washburn said. “I don’t think he’s pacing himself now.”
Odom doesn’t know if anyone else in his family has sleep apnea, but he tried to warn everyone. He said he puts himself in God’s hands, which also helps him deal with his sister’s death.
“I know she’s in a better place than here,” he said.