Patrick Peterson will return to the training of the Arizona Cardinals next month, after being diagnosed with diabetes last season, Ed Werder de ESPN told Thursday.
Peterson, 24, said he was diagnosed around week 7 of 2014, when Arizona visited Oakland on October 19.
Discovering what had affected his performance was a relief for Peterson.He was also "frightening" because diabetes is present in his family.Peterson said his grandparents, aunts and aunts grandmothers have diabetes.He thought it was a disease that only major generations suffered.
Through talks with his relatives, Peterson learned that diabetes can put his life at risk if he does not treat it carefully.
"Definitely, talking to them made me understand," he said.
On the period in which he did not know what his performance was affecting (before being diagnosed), Peterson says it was "very difficult" and that could be seen in the field.
"I realize. [...] I am a world -class athlete and I can't understand what happens to my body," he said.
More than eight months after his diagnosis, Peterson said "everything is going well."
It will undergo a review in the next couple of months for the training camp.
"I definitely want to improve," said Peterson."I think that, in terms of health, it was where I needed. I think that now that I am 100 percent, I feel that it will be an explosive year for me, simply return and play at the level that I know I am capable."
