Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Hasselbeck advocates for cholesterol screening after father's cardiac arrest death

Three-time Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Hasselbeck made sure to avoid defenders when throwing passes in his 18-year NFL career, but now he makes sure that he keeps his cholesterol down in his post-playing days.

Hasselbeck’s father, Don Hasselbeck, passed away suddenly at age 70 from cardiac arrest. Following his death, Hasselbeck’s mother urged him to get screened, and he was humbled by his results.

"It was really my mom who said to, you know, there's three boys in our family and said, 'Boys, I want you to get screened for everything, you know, calcium score in your heart, blood pressure, LDL cholesterol,'" Hasselbeck told Fox News Digital in a recent interview with the Family Heart Foundation.

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"And we kind of like to be honest kind of rolled my eyes at the cholesterol one, because I was like, ‘Oh, that's for people that are out of shape, the people that I crush on the Peloton.’"

"I was humbled really when my scores came back. A lot of my other scores were great, fantastic, and the cholesterol thing was too high, and I was shocked to be honest, and I can't take credit for taking ownership. I just was trying to honor my mom kind of in a tough time for her and through the process accidentally probably helped myself quite a bit and probably helped my kids. It was eye-opening."

Hasselbeck has partnered with the Family Heart Foundation for their "Tackle Cholesterol: Get into the LDL Safe Zone" campaign. As a football player, Hasselbeck said he always knew if he was injured, but with cholesterol, the threat is invisible.

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"When you're a football player, a lot of the injuries that you have, you can see them. It's a shoulder, it's a knee, it's a high ankle sprain. It's like orthopedic. With things like LDL cholesterol, it's invisible. And you can exercise all you want or eat as great as you want, but if you aren't in that safe zone of where you need to be cholesterol-wise, it can lead to all kinds of different issues, and cardiac arrest is one of them," Hasselbeck said.

Hasselbeck, who has a family history of cardiovascular disease, urges families and fans to get screened. Hasselbeck hopes people will visit CholesterolConnect.org for more information or to order a free, one-time at-home cholesterol screening.

"I'm really passionate about trying to tell everyone it's the easiest thing ever to get screened. Get screened, find out what your numbers are, find out what those numbers mean, and then you'll know how to lower your risk," Hasselbeck said.

Hasselbeck played for four different teams in his 18-year career: 10 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, three with the Indianapolis Colts, two with the Green Bay Packers, and two with the Tennessee Titans. In 209 games, he completed 60.5% of his passes for 36,638 yards with 212 touchdowns and 153 interceptions.

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