Alive & Kicking : Former Charger Kicker Rolf Benirschke Tells of Off-Field Strength

Rolf Benirschke was an up-and-coming place-kicker for the San Diego Chargers when an obscure organ disease almost killed him.

Nearly two decades later, the 41-year-old Benirschke has published his autobiography, “Alive & Kicking,” an account of his struggle to deal with inflammatory bowel disease and adjust to life off the football field.

In writing the book, Benirschke said he wanted to reach people in crisis.

“On the one hand, the book should have been written a long time ago when I was more visible,” he said between book-signing appearances Thanksgiving weekend. “On the other hand, I think there may have been a reason the book didn’t get completed, and it had to do with several other challenges I had to go through in life that sort of completed a lot of the story.”

That includes the abrupt end to his NFL career, the premature birth of his daughter and the heart-wrenching attempts at adoption that finally ended last spring when he and his wife, Mary, became parents to two Russian boys.

His story begins with the horrible disease--ulcerative colitis--that struck early in his Chargers career. He nearly died after two surgeries in eight days in November 1979, but surprised everyone by returning the next season to continue his record-setting career for seven more years.

“It’s not an easy disease to talk about,” said Benirschke, who underwent four surgeries and became the first professional football player to wear an ostomy pouch.

“A patient often becomes ill and then sort of suffers in silence,” he said. “And if they have the surgery, it’s a very difficult surgery to talk about. They often live out their life alone and don’t realize that a lot of people have gone ahead of them who are doing well.”

Benirschke could count himself among them. Two years after his surgeries, he kicked a 29-yard field goal for a 41-38 victory at Miami, one of the most epic playoff games in NFL history.

Benirschke needed so much blood during his operations that friends and supporters held a blood drive for him in 1979. It was the beginning of an annual event that has grown to what organizers say is one of the largest single-day collections in the world.

In 18 years, the drive has collected 27,647 pints of blood and helped 9,000 patients.

At this year’s event, Benirschke sold 100 of his books to people who had the illness or were related to someone who did.

“I mean, you couldn’t tell looking at them, but they have it,” he said. “They say 2 million Americans have it. That’s one in every 125 people. Those are real people struggling with it, not just a few people that are singled out.”

Benirschke said the letters he received after returning to the game inspired him to write “Alive and Kicking.”

‘Almost invariably, they started, ‘You’re the only other person I know of that’s gone through what I’m going through,” Benirschke recalled. “‘How did you deal with it?”

“And I was still trying to figure out how to deal with it. But all of a sudden it became very clear to me that nobody’s talking about this.”

Others who have undergone ostomy surgery are golfer Al Geiberger, late Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill and Marvin Bush, the youngest son of former President George Bush. Interviews with each are contained in “Alive & Kicking.”

Benirschke said he learned to put perceived obstacles and frustrations into perspective and to trust his faith.

When he went to Russia to get the orphan he and his wife would adopt, he learned his future son had a younger brother. Benirschke thought the orphanage might be trying to get rid of the child because he was sick and appeared emotionally distant from the other children at the orphanage.

“I was just heavy-hearted and didn’t know what to do,” Benirschke said. “I couldn’t reach my wife to ask her what I should do.”

A nurse assured him the boy would be OK.

“So I said, ‘All right, Lord, we’re going for it,”’ he said.

Benirschke hadn’t seen the younger child smile in two days. But as the boy sat in his new dad’s lap in the taxicab driving from the orphanage, he finally smiled.

“It was just like a flower,” Benirschke said. “He just blossomed.”

Erik, 5, and Timmy, 2, live with their parents and sister, Kari, in San Diego. Benirschke is in the financial services business and is a trustee of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America.

“Alive & Kicking” can be purchased by calling 1-800-571-4770.