Earlier this week, Tom Brady's father revealed he and his wife both endured weeks-long battles with COVID-19 in the fall.
On Thursday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback explained how he handled his parents' illnesses while playing football on the other side of the country.
“They’re doing great, so I think that’s the best part about all of it," Brady said in a video conference. "They came through it. I think one thing as you get older as an athlete -- one thing for me, experiencing a lot of different things over the course of my career -- is there’s a lot of family things that take place. My situation, it could be my parents, but also I have kids, so there’s just a lot of things that happen in your life."
Tom Brady Sr. said he was hospitalized for three weeks as he recovered from the coronavirus, which he called "serious stuff" and "a matter of life and death." One of Brady's sisters, a nurse, cared for their mother, Galynn, at home in California.
"Like all of us, as you get older, there’s more that you take on," Brady said. "I still obviously love going out there and competing, but on the other side of that, there’s a lot of family things that are very important to me, and certainly the health of my parents is very important. And although I was far away, I had three sisters who were doing everything they could to help at the time, too."
Brady said both of his parents will be in attendance next Sunday at Raymond James Stadium as the Buccaneers take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV.
"I’ll be very excited to certainly know my parents will be in the stands for the game on Sunday," the quarterback said. "They only made it to one game this year, (and) it wasn’t a very good outcome -- the Saints game at home, which was pretty rough for all of us. But I’ll have a full contingent all coming in on I think Saturday afternoon, ready to watch the game and cheer us on."
