From the Associated Press, by Jimmy Golen
Boston (AP) In the most brutal way yet, the degenerative brain disease that has plagued the National Football League for twenty years—through a billion-dollar lawsuit, congressional hearings, an A-list film, and an endless stream of former players’ obituaries—has now invaded America’s favorite sport.
A note blaming the NFL for his mental health issues was carried by the Las Vegas casino employee who killed four people in a skyscraper in New York City that houses the NFL’s headquarters.
In a three-page note discovered in his wallet, 27-year-old Shane Tamura, a high school football player, described his chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which can only be diagnosed after death, and pleaded with whoever found him to “study my brain.” His complaints against the NFL included the allegation that the league concealed the dangers of football and CTE in order to maximize profits at the expense of player safety.
He shot himself in the chest to preserve his brain for an autopsy that could determine whether his layman’s diagnosis was accurate, following an unsettling pattern in NFL player suicides.
More than 100 former NFL players have been diagnosed with CTE, a degenerative brain illness that has been connected to concussions and other head injuries typical of military conflict and contact sports. It has emerged as an existential threat to the most powerful professional sports league in the United States.
Due to its risks, some states have considered outlawing youth football, most leagues have limited contact drills in practice, and a number of concussion protocols and other rule changes have been implemented to lessen the most violent aspects of the physically demanding sport.
Here are the things we know and don’t know regarding the relationship between the shooter, the NFL, and CTE.
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The brain areas responsible for controlling emotions and behavior can be impacted by chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Although researchers point out that these symptoms can also be connected to other disorders, this can result in memory loss, sadness, severe mood swings, and other cognitive and behavioral problems.
According to experts, symptoms may appear years or even decades after the last brain injury. Evidence of the illness has been discovered in high school athletes as well as those with lengthy professional careers.
CTE has been linked by researchers to contact sports, military warfare, and other activities that involve recurrent head trauma. In testimony before Congress in 2016, the NFL acknowledged the connection between football and CTE after more than ten years of denial. To far, the NFL has settled concussion-related lawsuits with retired players for more than $1.4 billion.
The groundbreaking work of forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu, who diagnosed Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Fame center Mike Webster with CTE—the first in a former NFL player—was chronicled in the 2015 Will Smith movie Concussion. In addition to Aaron Hernandez, Hall of Famers Ken Stabler, Frank Gifford, and Junior Seau have also been diagnosed with CTE; in a 2017 study, 110 out of 111 former NFL players’ brains had indications of the illness.
There is no way to know.
As of right now, an autopsy that examines the brain after death is the only way to make a conclusive diagnosis of CTE. The Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center at Boston University states that the accumulation of an aberrant protein called tau in the brain tissue of individuals with CTE is a feature that sets it apart from other illnesses like Alzheimer’s.
This report was written by Laura Ungar and Maryclaire Dale of the Associated Press.
