Health

David Ortiz is still mourning the death of Tim Wakefield ... telling TMZ Sports this week his former Red Sox teammate was a "great guy, man."

"Great guy," he repeated.

Ortiz opened up to us about Wakefield for a few moments while out in Los Angeles ... just days after the former Boston star pitcher died from brain cancer.

Big Papi said the knuckleballer was straight-up "like my family, man" ... and you can see in the clip, he's obviously still in pain over the passing.

Ortiz and Wakefield grew close during their time together at Fenway Park -- you'll recall, they shared a locker room with one another for nine seasons. And, the two formed such a strong bond ... Wakefield actually showed up to Cooperstown last year to watch Ortiz get inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Papi is hardly the only former Red Sox player to express heartbreak over Wakefield's death -- multiple former teammates sent thoughts and prayers on social media as well.

Tim was just 57 years old.

Here's a sight Jets fans are going to love ... Aaron Rodgers walking without crutches -- just three weeks after tearing his Achilles!!!

New York's "All-Access" team captured the images back on Oct. 1 ... when Rodgers was visiting his squad at MetLife Stadium as it prepared to take on the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football.

The superstar quarterback -- wearing jeans, a T-shirt and athletic shoes -- strolled into the locker room without the aid of crutches ... and when one team official urged him to be careful on his surgically repaired leg, he told the guy to "chill out."

"Let me just do my thing, OK!?" the four-time MVP said while moving with a limp. "Just show 'em I can walk."

Rodgers then posted up near his locker -- joking with others in the area -- before he showed once again he could saunter around without crutches.

It's all a great scene for Gang Green ... as Rodgers has said he's actually hoping to make his return to the gridiron this season.

Of course, it takes most about a year to get officially healthy from Achilles tears ... but the QB told Pat McAfee days after he first injured the leg that he was hoping his doubters would fuel him into a quicker recovery time.

"Give me the timetables," he said to McAfee. "Give me all the things that you think can, should, or will happen because all I need is that one little extra percent of inspiration. That's all I need."

David Njoku's face was badly burned in the fire pit accident, but things could've been way worse ... the Browns star says his eyes were open when the fireball burned his face, and he could've lost his eyesight.

“I give all the glory to God. When it happened my eyes were open, so I saw everything and I really should’ve been blinded,” Njoku told reporters, adding ... "Luckily I'm not, so I give all glory to God."

Of course, the 27-year-old, former first-round draft pick stamped his status as one of the toughest dudes around when he played the week 4 game against the Ravens just days after the incident, somehow wearing a helmet over the burned area.

“All the pain and suffering from training in the offseason is far worse than any of this,” Njoku said.

The Browns lost handily to Baltimore, 28-3, but David was a bright spot, catching 6 passes for 46 yards ... despite the burns.

Initially, Njoku didn't reveal the injury. In fact, he walked in and out of the locker room with a mask that covered his whole face.

Then, earlier this week, David shared a photo from shortly after the incident, in addition to a photo showing the burns healing, albeit slowly.

As for how he's feeling now ... how's this for good news?

Warner Bros. is being sued by an angry mom who claims a 'Harry Potter' replica wand seriously injured her toddler's eye ... and she wants a huge check to cover the damages.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Jessica Perry says she bought a 'Potter' replica wand with a light-up pen function from a store and gave it to her kids ... only for it to end up impaling her 3-year-old's eye.

Jessica claims her older son was waving the wand around -- like wizards do in the movies and books -- when the metal writing portion of the pen ejected from the wand, flew across the room and pierced her younger son's eye.

In the docs, she says the pen ruptured his eyeball, nearly leaving him blind and forcing him to undergo a pair of eye surgeries.

She alleges the wand was defective, and Warner Bros. should have known about the risks ... because she says there's at least one online review describing a similar incident.

In the suit, Jessica claims her son had to use painful eyedrops which made him scream in agony ... and she says the eyepatch he had to wear frightened him so much, he could only sleep with his bedroom lights on.

She also says her little boy now has to guard against injuring his retina again ... which means for the rest of his life he can't play sports, roughhouse or have a normal life.

She's suing WB for several million dollars -- $8 mil in compensatory damages for her son's injuries and emotional distress, plus punitive damages.

Warner Bros. ha sido demandada por una madre furiosa que afirma que una réplica de la varita de "Harry Potter" hirió gravemente el ojo de su hijo y quiere un cheque enorme para cubrir los daños.

Según una nueva demanda, obtenida por TMZ, Jessica Perry dice que compró una réplica de la varita de "Harry Potter" con una función de bolígrafo luminoso en una tienda y se la dio a sus hijos, solo para que empalara el ojo de su hijo de 3 años.

La madre afirma que el hermano mayor del niño estaba agitando la varita alrededor —como los magos hacen en las películas y los libros— cuando la parte de metal de la pluma salió expulsada de la varita, voló a través de la habitación y perforó el ojo de su hijo.

En los documentos, la madre dice que la pluma rompió el globo ocular del niño, casi dejándolo ciego y obligándolo a someterse a un par de cirugías oculares.

La madre dice que la varita era defectuosa y Warner Bros. Debería haber sabido acerca de los riesgos, ya que existe más de una queja en redes sociales.

En la demanda, la madre afirma que tuvo que hacer uso de gotas para tratar los adoloridos ojos de su pequeño, quien lloraba de agonía. Ella dice que el parche en el ojo que tenía que usar lo asustó hasta el punto de que solo podía dormir con su habitación totalmente iluminada.

La madre dice que su hijo previamente sano ahora tiene que protegerse contra lesiones en la retina. Lo que significa que para el resto de su vida no podrá practicar deportes o tener una vida normal.

Ella va tras Warner por toneladas de dinero, buscando $8 millones en daños compensatorios por las lesiones de su hijo y la angustia emocional, y además quiere daños punitivos para castigar a la empresa.

El teléfono del novio de Shani Louk, la artista y asistente al festival secuestrada por Hamás, envió escalofriantes mensajes de texto tras el atentado del sábado, entre los que se incluían mensajes sobre escupir a la gente.

Orión Hernández Radoux, de 30 años, se encontraba con Louk, de 22, en el festival Supernova, cerca de la Franja de Gaza, cuando terroristas de Hamás abrieron fuego con armas y cohetes y secuestraron a los asistentes.

Louk fue una de las muchas personas tomadas como rehenes y se cree que Radoux —que sigue desaparecido— fue secuestrado junto a ella. Según The Sun, su teléfono ha sido utilizado para enviar mensajes amenazantes a sus contactos en los días posteriores a la masacre del festival.

Los textos, escritos en árabe, supuestamente dicen cosas como: "Libera Palestina", "Que Dios te maldiga" y "Te escupo".

Como ya informamos, el video de justo antes de los ataques de Hamás mostraba a Louk divirtiéndose en el festival justo antes de ser secuestrada, desnudada, escupida y exhibida en la parte trasera de una camioneta.

The phone belonging to the boyfriend of Shani Louk -- the artist and festivalgoer who was kidnapped by Hamas -- sent chilling texts after Saturday's attack ... including ones about spitting on people.

30-year-old Orión Hernández Radoux was reportedly with 22-year-old Louk at the Supernova festival near the Gaza Strip over the weekend when Hamas terrorists opened fire with guns and rockets, kidnapping those at the event.

Louk was one of many taken hostage, and it's believed Radoux -- who is still missing -- was kidnapped along with her. According to The Sun, his phone has been used to send threatening messages to his contacts in the days following the festival massacre.

The texts, written in Arabic, reportedly say things like, "Liberate Palestine," "God damn you," and "I spit on you."

As we reported, video from just before the Hamas attacks showed Louk having fun at the festival ... before she was taken, stripped naked, and spat on while being paraded in the back of a pickup truck.

Jonathan Goodwin, who nearly died doing a stunt for 'AGT: Extreme,' is suing NBC over his gruesome injuries, alleging the network didn't do enough to ensure safety on set.

According to a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Jonathan claims NBC and producers kept upping the ante on stunts to go bigger and bolder to keep eyeballs on the 'AGT' franchise, and he says that led to producers signing up contestants to perform extreme stunts ... while cutting corners on safety.

In the docs, Jonathan claims the show controlled, designed and interfered with the safe performance of stunts ... which he says nearly cost him his life when he got seriously injured on set.

Jonathan says he was "catastrophically injured" during an October 21 rehearsal at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Georgia, where he was crushed and burned by 2 exploding cars before falling more than 20 feet to the ground and landing violently.

In his suit, Jonathan claims he dislocated his spinal cord, lost his left kidney, suffered 3rd-degree burns and fractured his legs, ribs and shoulders.

Remember ... we first obtained video of the stunt, and it shows Jonathan suspended in the air, hanging from a wire and attempting to free himself from a straightjacket before two swinging cars smash together.

The footage shows the cars sandwiching Jonathan in midair ... and sources on set told us folks who were there thought Jonathan had died.

It's been nearly 2 years since the incident, and Jonathan says there's no end to his suffering from his mental, physical and emotional injuries from the "catastrophic, life-altering" incident.

In his suit, Jonathan's blasting the show for what he says was a failure to implement industry safety standards. He says the production hired unqualified people to oversee and design the stunt, which he says wasn't tested with a crash dummy before he got in the ring.

He's suing for damages.

Donations towards Mary Lou Retton's medical expenses now top $360k and the Olympic star's daughter, Shayla, says she's blown away by the "unbelievable love" her mom is receiving from her fans.

"My sisters and I are overwhelmed," Shayla said via Instagram on Wednesday, "We didn't even realize that there's so many people out there that love her just as much as we do."

"It's been a really hard time for our family."

Since news broke that the Olympic gold medalist was battling a rare case of pneumonia, fans have flooded the SpotFund account launched by her other daughter, McKenna.

As of Thursday morning, the fund sits at $363k (after starting with a goal of just $50k!) with over 6,000 donors! And it's going up by the hour.

"Just seeing that people love her like that and showing her that support has just meant the world to us and to her," Shayla said.

"Thank you for your unbelievable love & support for our mom. Please continue to pray for her full recovery."

Mattress Mack is hoping his family's generous contribution toward Mary Lou Retton's medical expenses leads to more donations for the Olympics legend ... telling TMZ Sports it's the least they could do.

Mack -- real name Jim McIngvale -- and his wife, Linda, wrote a check for $50,000 to assist with the gold medalist's hospital bills as she remains in the ICU with a rare form of pneumonia.

We spoke with Mack -- who owns Gallery Furniture in Texas -- about his family's decision to step up in such a big way ... and he said they have been fans since before she became a household name at the 1984 Olympic Games.

"We followed Mary Lou since her career in Houston," Mack said. "My wife and I have always been a huge support of Béla and Márta Károlyi's gymnastics team. My son worked out with them on the team for years, my daughter did as well."

"Mary Lou was always a shining point of light, as George Bush would say, and we pray for Mary Lou's recovery and the $50,000 is the least we could do to help an American icon get better."

In fact, Mack said Linda went through a similar health scare when she suffered a severe lung infection from pneumonia a year ago ... and now that she's doing much better, he hopes the same happens for Mary Lou.

"My parents taught me, and I try to teach my children, and Linda certainly lives that life, that the essence of living is giving," Mack added. "People get in a hard spot, let's help 'em out because one of these days, all of us will be in a hard spot. We're thrilled to help our Mary Lou, we pray for her speedy recovery and, again, I've lived my life by that motto -- 'the essence of living is giving.'"

KISS legends Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are being dragged to court over the COVID death of one of their longtime guitar techs ... and his family say it all started with Paul.

According to a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, the family of late KISS guitar tech Francis Stueber says he died a couple days after contracting COVID while on tour with the band back in October 2021.

The family says COVID started spreading amongst tour personnel in August 2021 when Paul contracted the virus ... and they say COVID kept spreading due to lax safety policies on the tour.

In the suit, Francis' family says anyone on tour who came down with COVID was instructed to quarantine in a hotel room in whichever city the band was in ... but they say the protocols offered little else.

Francis, the suit says, got COVID while in Detroit and was told to hole up in a Sheraton hotel ... and the family says KISS longtime manager Doc McGhee failed to arrange for medical personnel to visit and examine Francis at the hotel, despite Doc promising to do so.

It's pretty sad ... the docs say Doc asked another tour member to check on Francis at the hotel but Francis was dead when the person arrived, dying only 2 days after testing positive for the virus.

Francis' family is going after Gene, Paul, Doc, Marriott hotels and Live Nation for damages.

El ala cerrada de los Browns, David Njoku, acaba de revelar cómo lucía su rostro tras el grave accidente en el pozo de fuego en su casa hace poco más de una semana y es muy duro de ver.

El jugador de 27 años de edad, apareció en el informe de lesiones de los Browns antes de su partido de la cuarta semana contra los Ravens, donde declaró que sufrió lesiones en el brazo y la cara.

Njoku de alguna manera jugó a pesar del dolor de las quemaduras y de hecho atrapó 6 pases para 46 yardas en una derrota ante Baltimore.

Antes del partido, Njoku llevaba una máscara que cubría completamente su rostro mientras caminaba hacia el estadio, lo que significaba que nadie pudo ver de cerca al ex recluta de primera ronda.

Eso cambió el miércoles cuando Njoku publicó una selfie desde su carro, probablemente en algún momento poco después de la quemadura.

También compartió una mirada actualizada en su cara, que parece haber sanado sustancialmente.

Njoku está convirtiendo el accidente en algo positivo. Lanzó una línea de ropa y está donando una parte del dinero de las ventas a la Asociación Americana de Quemaduras.

"Quiero usar mi plataforma para ayudar a crear conciencia sobre un problema demasiado común", dijo Njoku.

Browns tight end David Njoku just revealed what his face looked like in the aftermath of the serious fire pit accident at his home a little more than a week ago, and it's gruesome.

Of course, the 27-year-old appeared on the Browns injury report before their week 4 game against the Ravens ... which stated he suffered injuries to his arm and face.

Njoku somehow played through the pain of the burns and actually caught 6 passes for 46 yards in a loss to Baltimore.

Prior to the game, Njoku wore a mask that fully covered his face as he walked into the stadium, meaning no one got an up-close look at the former first-round draft pick.

That changed on Wednesday when Njoku posted a selfie from his car, presumably sometime shortly after the burn.

He also shared an updated look at his face ... which appears to have substantially healed.

Njoku's turning the accident into a positive. He launched a clothing line and is donating a portion of the money from sales to the American Burn Association.

“I want to use my platform to help bring awareness to an all too common issue,” Njoku said.

If Taylor Swift makes a return trip to Arrowhead Stadium this week, she might not be able to watch Travis Kelce play ... 'cause the Chiefs just revealed the pop star's new flame is questionable for the big game.

Kansas City is playing on Thursday night instead of the usual Sunday in a prime time contest against the Denver Broncos ... but with Kelce still nursing an ankle injury that he suffered last weekend, he might have to sit it out.

The Chiefs listed him as a limited participant in practice on both Tuesday and Wednesday -- suggesting there's still a chance he could play -- but taking the game off would allow him nearly two full weeks to rest up before the Chiefs take on the Chargers next on Oct. 22.

The star tight end has already missed one game this season due to injury -- sitting out the season-opener against the Lions with a knee issue -- but he's played in every other game since ... including two that Swift saw in person.

Of course, it was unclear if Swift had any intentions of heading to K.C. for the "Thursday Night Football" showdown ... but with Kelce's status up in the air, it seems watching the game from home might just have to be the play.

2:44 PM PT -- La hija de Mary Lou Retton, McKenna Kelley, acaba de actualizar a sus fans sobre su madre a través de Instagram, diciendo que ella todavía está en la UCI y sigue luchando. "¡Ella está recibiendo una atención médica increíble! Gracias a todos los médicos y enfermeras".

Kelley, junto con sus tres hermanas Skyla, Shayla y Emma, también agradecieron a todos por su amor y apoyo. "Pedimos que continúen las oraciones y los pensamientos positivos para nuestra mamá".

¡El SpotFundMe también ha aumentado a más de $285k!

9:29 AM PT -- La recaudación de fondos para Mary Lou Retton ha llegado a un cuarto de millón de dólares, gracias a la donación de Linda, la esposa del famoso empresario de Texas, Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale, quien aportó la asombrosa suma de $50.000.

La leyenda de los Juegos Olímpicos, Mary Lou Retton, está recibiendo un tremendo apoyo financiero para hacer frente a un grave problema de salud. La ex deportista lleva recaudados más de $181k en donaciones.

Como informamos anteriormente, la medallista de oro ha estado luchando por su vida en la UCI, en donde está siendo tratada por una "forma muy rara de neumonía", según informa su hija. Actualmente, ella es incapaz de respirar por sí misma.

Teniendo en cuenta que Mary Lou, de 55 años, no tiene seguro médico, la familia abrió una página en SpotFund para ayudar con las facturas médicas, y poco después de que la recaudación de fondos se pusiera en marcha superó su objetivo de 50.000 dólares.

De hecho, hasta el miércoles por la mañana, la causa había recaudado más del triple de su objetivo inicial y solo sigue aumentando.

Hasta el momento, más de 3.900 personas han donado para ayudar con los gastos de Retton, y muchos han compartido palabras de apoyo hacia la gimnasta y su familia.

Retton es una de las gimnastas olímpicas estadounidenses más populares de los años 80. En 1984 ganó la medalla de oro en el all-around (que considera la sumatoria de todas las pruebas por aparato), así como un par de medallas de plata y bronce.

Ahora todos sus fans a lo largo del país la están apoyando nuevamente.

2:44 PM PT -- Mary Lou Retton's daughter, McKenna Kelley, just updated fans about her mom via Instagram ... saying she's still in the ICU and continues to fight.

"She is getting incredible medical care! Thank you to all the doctors and nurses!"

Kelley -- along with her three sisters Skyla, Shayla, and Emma -- also thanked everyone for their love and support.

"We ask for continued prayers and positive thoughts for our mom."

The SpotFundMe has also increased to over $285k!

9:29 AM PT -- The fundraiser for Mary Lou Retton has now hit a quarter-million dollars ... with famous Texas businessman Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale's wife, Linda donating an astounding $50,000.

The financial support is pouring in for Olympics legend Mary Lou Retton ... with more than $181k in donations being collected as she battles a serious medical issue.

As we previously reported, the gold medalist has been in the ICU fighting for her life as she deals with a "very rare form of pneumonia," according to her daughter ... and she is currently unable to breathe on her own.

Considering 55-year-old MLR is uninsured, the family started a SpotFund page to help with medical bills ... and shortly after the fundraiser went live, it shattered its goal of $50,000.

In fact, the cause has raised more than triple the original goal as of Wednesday morning ... and it only continues to rise.

So far, more than 3,900 people have donated to Retton's expenses ... with many leaving words of support for the gymnast and her family.

Retton is one of the most popular American Olympians from the '80s ... earning gold in the all-around, as well as a pair of silver and bronze medals, in 1984.

Now, her fans throughout the country are pulling for her once again.