Travis Frederick’s diagnosis has a silver lining

The mystery surrounding Travis Frederick’s injury has been solved, and the news is hopeful.

Over the last few days and weeks, various reports have been fluttering across the NFL and across Dallas Cowboys-land in relation to superstud lineman Travis Frederick. First, he was sent to a doctor in Los Angeles after experiencing stingers — a nerve issue in the neck and back area common to football and other high impact sports.

The doctor reportedly told him that he needed rest and it wasn’t too serious. No big deal. That’s what the collective NFL landscape seemed to roll with as well. Again, stingers are common in this line of work. They happen, you heal and move forward.

But then, Frederick decided to seek advice beyond his initial prognosis. That’s when ears really started perking up. What’s actually going on here? Why is someone who was told they simply “need to rest” gathering further medical attention?

Well, we finally learned the full scope of this issue today. And while the stakes may appear at first glance to be dire, let’s take a deep breath and all calm down together.

To start with, Frederick’s health is the number one concern here and it’s not close. The

good

fantastic news is that the issue — Guillain Barre Syndrome — was caught early. We aren’t doctors but it seems like a positive sign to always catch a major disorder in its beginning stages.

The second thing: What the heck is Guillain Barre Syndrome? You can learn a lot more by going to the Neurological Disorders Institute here, but in a nutshell it’s an autoimmune disease attacking the nervous system. It’s why Frederick might have felt various forms of weakness and the cause of those pesky stingers.

The term “autoimmune disease” is such a harsh and scary thing, but really this is totally something Frederick can recover from. In fact, the rate of full recovery is 70 percent. The only downside is that there’s not a great timetable on when that recovery will take place.

For Frederick’s part, he’s very confident. He’s been receiving treatment the last few days (we aren’t sure what kind specifically) and feels good that he’ll beat this and return soon to football. Again, the latter isn’t much of a priority right now though it’s understandable for fans and Travis himself to want to get back to playing as quickly as possibly.

Of course, this also isn’t to take the condition lightly — it’s serious and he’s lucky to have caught it when he did — but we’re all about sending the positive vibes. So here’s to a speedy return and we look forward to seeing Fredbeard back in action whenever he’s healthy.