Tom Brady’s parents battled COVID-19 at the start of the NFL season

As Tom Brady begins to prepare for a 10th career Super Bowl, his parents had an even bigger battle on their hands earlier this season.

Tom Brady Sr. revealed on Monday that he and his wife, Galynn, both contracted COVID-19 in the fall and were both “sick as a dog.”

“When the season started this year, I was in the hospital with COVID for almost three weeks and my wife was sick with COVID at the same time,” Brady Sr. said Monday on ESPN’s “#Greeny”.

“We haven’t even seen the first two games of the year. These were the first two games I missed in his career because I was sick like a dog and my wife was as sick as a dog.

“We never missed a game in Michigan or New England or anywhere. For the first two games, when I was in the hospital, I didn’t care even if they played, let alone missed the game. It was a matter of life and death, like anyone who goes to the hospital. These are serious matters.

Brady Sr. said his son was “under stress” while trying to make sure his parents were okay in California as he started the season with a new team in Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers quarterback tried to FaceTime his father daily on the way to practice, according to Brady Sr.’s sister Brady, a nurse, was on hand to take care of their mother, a cancer survivor.

“Tommy fought,” said Brady Sr. “Now it’s in the rearview mirror. We are healthy, we are happy and everything is fine.

“We’re just representative of the 25 million Americans who have had this stuff so far. There is nothing to shake a stick. He took the backseat of the football season. On the other hand, Tommy has yet to introduce himself, everyone has to introduce himself.

As to whether the Brady family are planning to be in Tampa to see Tom chase a seventh Super Bowl ring?

“We certainly hope to be,” Brady Sr. said, noting that they would be “extremely careful” in the midst of the pandemic. “It’s just a matter of us being able to put together the travel plans.”