It's been nearly three years since Johan Franzen suited up for the Detroit Red Wings, but his wife, Cecilia, is sharing part of her story on a blog.
In a recent post on Sunday, titled "An Emotional Week," Cecilia describes her visit to Denver where she visited Johan at a brain health center.
"I don't know where to start, but this week has been really hard and extremely emotional," she wrote. "Monday morning the kids, Lisa and I flew out to Denver, Colorado to visit Johan.
"He's been going thru an intensive treatment program at Marcus Brain Health Institute, and this last week was a family week where I joined in on for a lot of the sessions," she added.
Franzen played his last game for the Red Wings on Oct. 10, 2015, after missing the final half of the 2014 season due to a concussion. He only played two games in the 2015-16 season.
In September 2015, Franzen said he was still battling setbacks from his concussion, but he hadn't considered retiring.
Cecilia said Johan is still dealing with post-concussion syndrome, adding, "the last months have been really bad.
"Something needed to happen and I'm so thankful we found this new amazing place," she wrote. She said Johan was the institute's first athlete.
"First day when we came was a great day, so nice to see each other again," she added. "Second day - terrible and we got into a huge fight. Probably normal in most relationships, but when you have a brain injury it ads up, and it becomes SO not rational. The brain just can't paus (sic) and take a break when it's overloaded and can't recover.
"He bounced back to a very dark and sad place," she wrote.
She finished off the blog saying that despite it being a hard week, it was also great.
"We are for the first time very hopeful for the future and Johan feels much better from when eh started the treatment," she wrote. "it's not gonna be easy, but he has a plan on how to go forward and can also start to work out slowly again."
