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Former Tennessee safety Trevon Flowers reveals myositis diagnosis

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey07/06/23GrantRamey
tennessee-defensive-back-trevon-flowers-recalls-final-defensive-series-versus-alabama
(Bachman/Getty Images)

Former Tennessee football defensive back Trevon Flowers played his redshirt senior season at Tennessee with Myositis, a disease that attacks muscles and the immune system. Flowers announced the diagnosis in a lengthy post on social media this week:

“I guess it’s time to update the world on what I’ve been going through. These past months been some of the hardest of my life. I recently was diagnosed with something called myositis. Myositis in shorter words, is weakness and inflammation to the muscles in my body and basically my body was fighting against itself. 

“This disease attacked my body so fast, I didn’t understand why I was feeling the (way) I was. I played my last football season not even knowing what I was dealing with. I knew something wasn’t right, because I didn’t feel like the player I know I am, but I continued to push through. It took months just to figure out what was going on, I had 0 answers. 

“Good news is, after I found out what was going on, I started my treatment asap. During my treatment, which I started back in February, I was unable to do a nay extraneous workouts, I was unable to participate in any senior bowls, workouts, or even pro day. Good news is I was recently cleared to start working out again! 

“No matter what, I’ll forever keep my faith. I know God has the last say so! My head high and I’ll forever stand on 10! God does give his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers. I’m just walking testimony! No matter how things may go, I will be back stronger than ever, believe that!”

Flowers in 11 games last season had 57 tackles, two interceptions, 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack. He had a career-high 82 tackles in 2021, playing in 12 games, with 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack with two interceptions. He had five interceptions in total during his time at Tennessee. 

In the 2018 recruiting class, Flowers was a three-star safety out of Tucker High School in Tucker, Ga. He picked Tennessee over offers from Clemson, Kentucky and Illinois, among others.

Myositis, according to the Cleveland Clinic, “is a disease that makes your immune system attack your muscles. It causes chronic inflammation — swelling that comes and goes over a long time. Eventually, this inflammation makes your muscles feel increasingly weak. It can also cause muscle pain.”

“Myositis is a type of myopathy. Myopathy is a general term that refers to diseases that affect the muscles that connect to your bones (skeletal muscles). Different forms of myositis affect different groups of muscles throughout your body. Myositis usually affects the muscles you use to move, including muscles in your arms and shoulders, legs and hips, abdomen and spine.”

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