In an interview with Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, CSNNE Celtics sideline reporter Greg Dickerson outlines his recent health scares, and opens up about his battle with epilepsy and Tourette syndrome.
Greg Dickerson, Celtics reporter, details battle with Tourette syndrome, epilepsy
Two days before the Celtics’ season opener against the Knicks on Christmas, Dickerson, his wife Shannon and their 3-year-old son Cole hopped in their car to drive to New York. Shannon didn’t feel well and had asked Greg to drive for the beginning of the trip, but she got behind the wheel any way.
“Nobody said a word about it,” Dickerson said. “We just went off on our way, but if I had driven, the three of us would be dead.”
Not long into the drive, Dickerson suffered a seizure. He recalls having difficulty speaking and slamming his fist on the dashboard in frustration, then blanking out. The next thing he remembers is sitting on the side of I-95 in Attleboro while the state police and fire and rescue squad tried to convince him to get out of the car. Dickerson spent the night at Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro. Medical tests ruled out a brain tumor, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis, but doctors weren’t sure what the problem was.
He January he suffered another seizure, this time in the middle of a Celtics broadcast. He’s since been diagnosed with epilepsy (Chad Finn had reported that on February 3rd) and is on medication to prevent further seizures.
In addition, from the Doyle article:
Dickerson revealed for the first time publicly that he has also suffered from Tourette syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder for 15 years and dyslexia, a reading disability, since the third grade.
He detailed how he copes with those conditions and the support he has received. He’s been back on the job during Celtics games since January 31st, and expects to improve as time goes on.
