From the Gridiron to the Lab

Four years as a walk-on linebacker at Wake Forest left me with more than just highlights. By the time I graduated, I'd sustained 5+ documented concussions—and probably twice that many "bell-ringers" I played through.

At 24, I walked into a doctor's office with symptoms that should have been alarming: brain fog so thick I couldn't remember conversations from an hour before, fatigue that no amount of sleep could fix, and a libido that had completely flatlined.

My bloodwork came back with a Total Testosterone of 287 ng/dL—the level of an 80-year-old man. The doctor's response? "You're technically in range. You're fine."

I wasn't fine. That moment became the catalyst for everything that followed. I refused to accept "normal" when I knew optimal was possible.