Michael Irvin has stood by his wife through some of life’s toughest challenges.
In the Sept. 3 episode of Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay podcast, the former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, 59, opened up about caring for his wife, Sandy Harrell, who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
“We recognized some things were going wrong with her about 10 years ago, actually,” Irvin told Sharpe.
The couple met in college and married in 1990. Together, they have four children: Myesha, 35, Chelsea, 29, Michael Jr., 28, and Elijah, 27.
At first, Irvin and his family thought Harrell might be experiencing early menopause. This was despite the fact that both Irvin’s mother and mother-in-law had suffered from Alzheimer’s.
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“I buried my mom. She had Alzheimer’s. My mother-in-law was living with us because she had Alzheimer’s. And now we thought my wife was going through menopause at 49 because she’s coming at 50,” he explained.
After about a year of medical testing, doctors gave them a clear diagnosis.
“So, we had been dealing with this eight, nine years, you know, going back and forth. And… what’s difficult is, it’s quite hard to take care of someone 24 hours a day,” Irvin shared.
He added that changes in Harrell’s mood have made it difficult to keep nurses in the home. “I have to keep a 24-hour nurse with her all the time,” he said. “She hit you. They take that nurse out, send another nurse, and they put more charges on.”
Even so, Irvin said he will continue caring for his wife at home, no matter what challenges they face.
“But she, if anybody, has earned the right to be in her home. You know what I mean?” he told Sharpe. “No matter what, she will be in her home.”
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Irvin first revealed his wife’s diagnosis in a June 2024 interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. At the time, he made it clear that Harrell would never be moved into an assisted living facility.
“That I shall honor. No matter what it takes,” he said.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, younger or early-onset Alzheimer’s is much less common and affects people under the age of 65. The group notes that getting a diagnosis often requires a full medical exam, cognitive tests, neurological exams, and sometimes brain imaging.
