Steve Gleason hospitalized during Hurricane Francine landfall, team says 'he is now stable'

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - MARCH 12: Former NFL player Steve Gleason speaks onstage during the Answer ALS And Team Gleason Game Changer Gala at Hyatt Regency New Orleans on March 12, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Erika Goldring/Getty Images)
ALS activist and former NFL player Steve Gleason had to be taken to the hospital by first responders during Hurricane Francine. (Photo by Erika Goldring/Getty Images)

Steve Gleason, the former New Orleans Saints special teamer who is now an ALS activist, is stable after being taken to the hospital Wednesday night while Hurricane Francine was making landfall.

His team posted a message on X, formerly Twitter, thanking the first responders who helped them get to Ochsner Medical Center in Jefferson, Louisiana, during the dangerous storm.

Gleason, 47, is famous for a 2006 punt block that was returned for a touchdown in the Saints' first game back at the Superdome since Hurricane Katrina. Gleason and the Saints went to the NFC championship game that year, his last in the NFL, though he wouldn't officially retire until 2008.

After he was diagnosed in 2012 with ALS, a neurodegenerative disease, Gleason became an activist and advocate for treatment of the disease, even as it robbed him of his ability to walk, talk and move independently.

It's not known what necessitated the sudden hospital stay. Gleason's team promised to "update everyone as soon as we know more."