A fixture on NFL sidelines for Fox Sports for almost 30 years, Pam Oliver has seen it all.
For many weeks, fans have been growing concerned for Pam Oliver after hearing her struggle through reports and seeing her appearance on game days.
Oliver, a veteran reporter, did not sound like her usual self while delivering a few reports during the game between the 49ers and Jaguars. Oliver’s cadence and speech were not smooth, which led to some concern from fans. The same thing happened with Oliver during a divisional playoff game for the 2020 season.
It turns out the 62-year-old has already spoken in depth about her debilitating headaches, which can cause issues for her performance.
The FOX reporter suffers from severe migraines, which sometimes affect her while she is working. Though she has mostly been able to fight through them, they have been bad enough to cause her to miss games at times.
“Well, I’ve had several [migraines] over the course of the football season,” Oliver told Richard Deitsch. “For example, I’ve gone from averaging 5-6 a month down to averaging 3 a month. I consider that being lucky. They’re very debilitating for me. They’ve been a problem for a very, very long time. It’s caused me to miss a few games over the span of my career because I just couldn’t take the noise and the light and the sickness that comes with that. The nausea and the vomiting.
“There was one game, about three-four years ago. I live in Atlanta. I was minutes from Mercedez-Benz [Stadium]. My driver, I said, you gotta pull over. We were less than five minutes from the stadium. I’m hurling. My head is pounding. And I made the decision right then and there, I’m no good to anyone. There’s no way that I felt like I was gonna get through that game, be productive, help the crew, contribute in any way. So, turned around and I went home. I felt so guilty about that for the longest time, but they really do knock me out of action.
“I feel like they’ve gotten better, just from the standpoint of having fewer. But they definitely are real. And they continue to plague me. And not to have people feel sorry for me, but that’s just the way it is. That’s just part of my health issue.”
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Pam Oliver is an absolute trooper for powering through this and delivering her awesome reports each weekend for NFL fans.
