Sign up for our special edition newsletter to get a daily update on the coronavirus pandemic.

Former NFL kicker Tom Dempsey is in hospice care after being diagnosed with coronavirus, relatives said.

Dempsey, who once held the NFL record for booting a field goal 63 yards when he played with the Saints, began receiving hospice care Wednesday after contracting the virus last month during an outbreak at a senior living center where he lives in New Orleans, his daughter told NOLA.com.

Dempsey, 73, was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26. He then started medication at the Lambeth House senior living center that cut his fever by early Tuesday, but the 11-year NFL vet’s oxygen levels started to drop by Wednesday morning, along with a diminished appetite, his daughter said.

“We thought we were out of the woods with the fever,” Ashley Dempsey told NOLA.com. “It was wishful thinking.”

Dempsey, who has been previously diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, was born without toes on his right foot or fingers on his right hand. He has relied on video chats to communicate with relatives while at the senior center where more than 50 residents have been infected with COVID-19 – and at least 13 people have died, NOLA.com reports.

Ashley Dempsey announced Monday that her father had contracted the virus, but said his symptoms had been relatively mild, with Tylenol managing his fever, she added.

“His appetite has been good,” she told NOLA.com. “He’s doing OK.”

Dempsey spent 11 seasons in the NFL, starting in New Orleans before playing for the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams, Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills.

Related Video Video length 59 seconds :59 Patrick McEnroe tells the world about his coronavirus journey Patrick McEnroe tells the world about his coronavirus journey

His then-NFL-record 63-yard field goal in 1970 as time expired to lift New Orleans over the Detroit Lions stood as the longest kick in league history until Denver’s Matt Prater bested it by one yard in December 2013.