Shaw has surgery to address issue with heart

Procedure to drain fluid not related to former linebacker's battle with ALS

Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today Sports

Former Tennessee Titans linebacker and special teams star Tim Shaw revealed via Twitter on Thursday that he had surgery to remove more than a liter of fluid from around his heart.

The issue, he said, was not related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Instead, it was “just a crazy thing that happens.”

He added, “God isn’t finished with me yet!”

"I've never experienced FEAR like this," he wrote. "As surgery neared, more people prayed, fear dissipated and I felt God's peace. They have drained more than a liter of fluid from around my heart. this had nothing to do with ALS, just a crazy thing that happens. God isnt finished with me yet!"

Shaw revealed in 2014 that he had been diagnosed with ALS and that it effectively had ended his playing career a year earlier. He played six seasons in the NFL, the least three with the Titans. He first started to experience symptoms during his last season (2012) and Tennessee released him prior to the start of the 2013 regular season.

In 2016, general manager Jon Robinson and then head coach Mike Mularkey declared Shaw a ‘Titan for life,’ signed him to a contract and immediately placed him on the reserve/retired list. In 2017 he was named one of the team’s captains.

Under current coach Mike Vrabel, Shaw works with the special teams coaches and takes parts in meetings when he has the time and strength to do so.