NFL sideline reporter Jen Hale bravely opens up on her heart diagnosis that killed her father and uncle

Fox Sports sideline reporter Jen Hale has opened up about her heart condition that nearly killed her several years ago and was a ‘death sentence’ for her father and uncle. 

Hale spoke about being diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy, which is a condition that stretches the heart beyond its normal configuration. 

Today, Hale is in great health. However, several years ago, while working on NFL sidelines, Hale’s heart health dipped below 20 percent. 

Hale said if she had caught it sooner, she would have had around a six-month recovery as opposed to two-and-a-half years. She is 8 years post-diagnosis during Super Bowl week.  

‘It essentially means my heart stretched out. It got big and floppy. If you think about the heart like a rubber band, pumping blood, it was so big and floppy it couldn’t pump the blood to my body,’ Hale said of her condition on Fox News. 

‘It was genetic but I didn’t know my family history. I knew there were heart attacks on the male side of my family. But I always chalked that up to being male, lifestyle, clogged arteries. I don’t eat meat, I exercise every day, I was in my 30s and female. It couldn’t be me, right?’

Hale said the condition that killed her father and uncle nearly took her life several years ago too

‘I excused and ignored the symptoms for way too long, even though I was feeling exhausted, I was constantly out of breath. It wasn’t until my ankles started swelling so big I couldn’t put shoes on except for flip flops I went to a third doctor and said something was really wrong.’

‘I should have caught it before then if I knew the risk factors and my family history. When I was diagnosed, I was told my heart was down to 16 percent function.’ 

‘I was told I had a third chance I’d have five years to live, a third chance I’d need a heart transplant, and a third chance medicine would work for me. Thank god the medicine worked for me.’

Nowadays, Hale only takes a few pills during the day to treat her condition. Hale also credited the advancements in medicine for saving her life, unlike her father and uncle 20 years ago.   

Hale had plenty of assignments with Fox, constantly being paired with Chris Myers and Mark Schlereth for games. 

Hale is in New Orleans for the Super Bowl and was one of the hosts for Monday’s opening night at the Caesars Superdome.