Judy Coughlin, the wife of two-time Super Bowl-winning coach Tom, is bedridden with a brain disorder that has left her struggling to speak or move, her husband of 54 years revealed Tuesday.
In a guest piece for The New York Times, Tom opened up about his wife's absence from public life and described the experience of caring for Judy over the last four years as she battles progressive supranuclear palsy, an incurable brain disorder that affects patients' ability to walk, speak, and move.
'As so many of you are gearing up for another NFL season, I will be sitting far from the sidelines, at the bedside and holding the hand of my biggest supporter, my beloved wife, the mother of our children and a grandmother to our grandchildren,' Tom wrote.
Judy Coughlin, the wife of two-time Super Bowl-winning coach Tom, is bedridden with a brain disorder that has left her struggling to speak or move, her husband of 54 years revealed Tuesday. Judy, 76, has been a very visible part of her husband's public life, including his work with the Jay Fund, a foundation aimed at helping families battling childhood cancer. As 74-year-old Tom explained in his piece, it was Judy's absence from Jay Fund events that prompted questions about her whereabouts
The Jimmy Fund, the Coughlin's charity aimed at helping families battling childhood cancer, posted a quote from Tom's New York Times piece about Judy's health on Tuesday
Head coach Tom Coughlin of the New York Giants celebrates with his wife Judy Coughlin after winning the NFC championship game against the Green Bay Packers on January 20, 2008 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Giants defeated the Packers 23-20 in overtime to advance to the Super Bowl XLII
'After several years of doctors trying to pinpoint the disease that has been slowly taking her from us, Judy was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy in 2020. It is a brain disorder that erodes an individual's ability to walk, speak, think and control body movements. It steals memories and the ability to express emotions and, sadly, is incurable.
'Our hearts are broken. Judy has been everything to our family. For the past four years, we've helplessly watched her go from a gracious woman with a gift for conversation, hugging all the people she met and making them feel they were the most important person in the room, to losing almost all ability to speak and move.'
The couple has four children and 11 grandchildren, and lives in Florida, where Tom served as head coach, and later as an executive, for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He also
