Two-time WNBA MVP Elena Delle Donne detailed her day-to-day life dealing with Lyme disease after a panel of league doctors denied her request for a health exemption.
Washington Mystics All-Star and two-time WNBA MVP Elene Delle Donne revealed details about her health condition in a letter with the Player's Tribune just two days after league doctors denied her request to opt-out of the 2020 season.
In the letter, Delle Donne said that she takes 64 pills per day to keep her Lyme disease under control. She has dealt with the condition for 12 years and noted that taking those pills helps keep her "healthy enough to do my job and earn the paycheck that supports my family."
According to Delle Donne, her doctor has stated that the Mystics star's "immunocompromised" condition leaves her at high-risk to contract COVID-19 and recommended she sit out of the WNBA's shortened season. Delle Donne submitted reports from her personal and team physicians to the WNBA's panel of doctors to determine if she could get a health exemption and still be paid while sitting out the season. In response, the panel denied Delle Donne's request.
"I’m now left with two choices: I can either risk my life….. or forfeit my paycheck," Delle Donne wrote. "Honestly? That hurts."
Delle Donne said she recognizes the work the league has put into making the "bubble" safe in Bradenton, Fla., but has not yet made a decision on whether or not she will participate, writing, "I’m still thinking very carefully and weighing my options."
Delle Donne, 30, was named WNBA MVP last season after helping lead the Mystics to the team's first championship in franchise history while dealing with a back injury. The WNBA is set to begin its season on July 25 with a shortened 22-game schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.