The NFL Players Association produced copies of seven checks sent on behalf of former player Brian DeMarco for $9,748.81 in the last nine months after DeMarco appeared at a Chicago news conference and on Chicago television Monday to claim he was getting no help from the union for what he called crippling disabilities. "No one in my office could believe this was the guy they were talking about," said NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw on Monday night. "We've been taking care of this guy." Neither Ditka nor DeMarco could be reached Monday night. "I filed for disability three different times," DeMarco said at the news conference. "Somehow I fell through the cracks. And the third time, I was told I was too late. I have a phone record that shows 128 phone calls to the NFLPA from mid-August of last year to mid-May of this year. In five years of dealing with this disability, I have yet to be seen by an NFL physician." But Upshaw said DeMarco has not applied for disability after DeMarco and disputed the lack of communication. "He talked to Andre Collins from our office last week when we were at the retired players meeting in Atlanta," Upshaw said. "Andre Collins out of his pocket wired him a $300 amount because he said he didn't know if he could make it the next three days, that his kids were eating peanut butter and jelly and crackers. Andre (NFLPA liaison to retired players) talks to him just about every weekend."