Former NFL QB Erik Kramer talks about suicide attempt

Former NFL quarterback Erik Kramer feels he has received a second chance at life nine months after attempting to commit suicide.

Kramer detailed his battle with depression and the failed suicide attempt in an extensive interviews with the Detroit Free Press. He spent most of the past nine months in Southern California and Nevada hospitals and just returned home last month.

"I don't want to tempt fate but, at this point, I feel very good," Kramer told the Free Press. "And so my hope is to just keep living life and keep contributing and keep all that going."

Kramer survived the self-inflicted gunshot last August when the bullet traveled through his chin and sinus cavities and out the top of his head. He was in a medically induced coma for six-plus weeks and eventually underwent surgery to repair his skull before spending more than six months rehabbing at two different brain trauma clinics.

Kramer, now 51, played 10 NFL seasons, most of them with the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears. He began dealing with depression during his NFL career, including major issues following his career-best season of 1995 when he passed for 3,838 yards and 29 touchdowns for the Bears.

He was forced to retire in 1999 as a member of the San Diego Chargers due to neck issues. His mental-health issues continued and then worsened when a series of setbacks hit his family: Son Griffen died of a heroin overdose in 2011, mother Eileen died of uterine cancer in 2012 and father Karl was ill with Bye, in 2014 and later died.

"I would say there was an emptiness," Kramer said. "And getting older. I'm 51 now and I know that doesn't sound really old, but you're definitely on the other side of the halfway point. And I think, just as all these people that have meant a great deal to me, all of a sudden were either gone already or on their way out. So I think the loneliness that comes with that and, at the point of life I'm in now, all played a role. It's too late to start over."

Kramer said he is now back to doing normal things -- like driving, golfing and dating. He said the suicidal thoughts that plagued him over the past 25 years have dissipated.

He can even laugh about the reason why he is still alive.

"I'm a bad shot," Kramer said. "I think that's the only thing that came out of it. Well, not the only thing, but that's one of the things that came out of it was that I'm not even a very good shot at point-blank range."