In a story that could crush the romantic notion of the Dolphins’ 17-0 Perfect Season, Sports Illustrated is publishing a report this week revealing the debilitating health of Hall of Fame linebacker Nick Buoniconti, for whom the simplest task of putting on a T-shirt is a challenge.

Although Buoniconti’s exact issues have not been diagnosed, the story reveals he has an "increasingly useless left hand," difficulty going to the bathroom alone, has required frequent emergency-room visits and fell backward down stairs, bleeding and later telling wife Lynn, "I should just kill myself! It doesn’t matter!"

Compounding matters, King wrote that Buoniconti, 76, brought the story to Sports Illustrated rather than the other way around. Buoniconti apparently hopes to pressure the NFL to improve health benefits for retired players.

The report includes a video, which the family wants public, SI says. In it, Buoniconti, his bathing trunks drooping, repeatedly struggles to slip on a T-shirt.

A preview of the story, written by former Miami Herald sports writer Scott Price, was posted Monday by Peter King, who said the entire story will be published Tuesday. In addition, King plans to post a story Wednesday on Jim Kiick, a running back on the Dolphins’ championship teams, who "lived in squalor until he was put in an assisted care facility last summer with dementia/early onset Alzheimer’s."

Although fullback Larry Csonka, 70, energetically delivered the successful sales pitch last year to NFL owners to bring the 2020 Super Bowl to South Florida, the SI report points out that other members of the heralded 1972 team haven’t been as fortunate.

Quarterback Earl Morrall, who died at age 79 in 2014, had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the brain disease found in scores of other deceased football players. Defensive end Bill Stanfill, who died in November at age 69, had dementia. Kicker Garo Yepremian died at age 70 in 2015 of cancer.

Coach Don Shula, 87, recently had a pacemaker implanted and uses a motorized wheelchair.

"Everybody’s searching," Buoniconti said. "Some go to North Carolina, some to BU, some to UCLA. And it’s all related. That’s why it’s so unnecessary, what the NFL is putting the players through by making us document the neurological deficiencies. Not everybody can afford to go through that. And they say they’ll pay for it — but do you know what that’s like, actually getting the money?"

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With defensive end Jason Taylor due to be enshrined into the Hall of Fame in August, Buoniconti currently is the only defensive member of the Dolphins with a bust in Canton. From 1969 to 1976, he made his reputation as one of the hardest-hitting Dolphins ever, winning two Super Bowls but paying a price only now becoming public.

On the contrary, Buoniconti seemed a picture of vitality when he sat down with The Palm Beach Post in March 2015 to discuss the 30-year fight he has staged in an attempt to help son Marc out of his wheelchair after Marc was hurt making a tackle for The Citadel.

Portrait of Miami Dolphins future hall of fame member Nick Buoniconti and his son Marc, paralyzed from the neck down after injuring his spinal cord in a 1985 college football game. They pose in the Dolphins training headquarters at Nova Southeastern University on July 26, 2001. (Photo by David Spencer/The Palm Beach Post)

David Spencer/The Palm Beach Post

Nick’s vow to his son helped launch The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and its fund-raising arm, The Buoniconti Fund, which has been spearheaded by Nick’s tireless efforts to raise $25 million annually.

"This is a lot of work," Nick told The Post in ’15. "It’s feeding the mouths of the scientists and their family and trying to get the top people in the field and attract them here to the University of Miami Medical Center and The Miami Project."

In fact, the SI story discusses how Buoniconti put on a strong face at a Legends Dinner in California in November, serving as emcee before a packed ballroom, crediting scores of supporters and sharing "war stories."

The darker side, according to Price: Nick had trouble walking off the stage and motioned for help from Lynn to use the restroom.

"Lynn had to stand by to unbutton and unzip him and ensure that he’d emerge from the men’s room dry and unexposed," Price wrote.

Buoniconti's son Marc issued a statement to The Palm Beach Post on Monday night.

"This has been my dad's reality for a while now, and it's been a frustrating and heartbreaking journey. To see him like this after all he's done to help others breaks my heart, and makes me want to do everything I can to find some answers for him and the countless other athletes dealing with these issues. We ask for your continued support as we try to help my father as he wages his courageous battle."

Price wrote that Buoniconti has neurodegenerative dementia and theorized he could have a form of Parkinson’s, CTE or Alzheimer’s.

"I feel lost," Buoniconti said. "I feel like a child."

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