Football was very good to me. I loved the sport and found success as a Hall of Fame middle linebacker at BYU. Hitting and being hit, the comradery, the crowds, everything about it felt so good. Unfortunately, I paid a heavy price for my success on the field. Beginning in my early 40’s, I started … Continue reading Football, CTE and Light
This Is Not Just Another CTE Story
We are told there is no official diagnosis, cure or even an effective treatment for the neurodegenerative disease CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. Because of this bleak reality, people are turning their backs on the personal stories chronicling the effects of this devastating condition. After all, who wants to keep hearing about athletes killing themselves, or … Continue reading This Is Not Just Another CTE Story
BYU Hall Of Fame
In 1968, I was a barely 6 foot tall and 185 pounds. I was the starting offensive center for the Canoga Park California High School varsity football team. That team would go on to win the Los Angeles City Championship for the first and only time in its 100+ year history (before the city was … Continue reading BYU Hall Of Fame
Our Journey Begins
“Life must be understood backward. But … it must be lived forward.” Søren Kierkegaard
Never stop searching!
After spending years navigating the world of brain injury and disease currently surrounding and threatening the sport I love, I have found questions without answers, denials, lies and lawsuits. However, with my wife's patience and support, eventually a path emerged that brought us peace and should provide hope to all those whose lives have been … Continue reading Never stop searching!
Finally, Some Progress
After nearly a year of planning and the necessary approvals, we started the research study at the University of Utah School of Medicine to examine the effects of near-infrared light on various cognitive, motor and emotional measures in ex-athletes. The participants each have a history of repetitive collisions from participating in different sports, ie football, … Continue reading Finally, Some Progress
“We’re desperate”
I Love Football! With that said… In May of 2017, my wife and I were temporarily living in the Boston area doing genealogical research. I had been diagnosed with football related brain damage 6 years earlier (following 10+ hours of testing) and we hoped that doing service would calm symptoms that had become severe. After … Continue reading “We’re desperate”
Willful Ignorance – they should have known!
Dementia in football: Ex-players three and a half times more likely to die of conditionFormer professional footballers are three and a half times more likely to die of dementia than people of the same age range in the general population, according to new research. Read in BBC News: https://apple.news/AwI69TRGZRWiW37jLsr297Q Regardless of what many continue to … Continue reading Willful Ignorance – they should have known!
The Future of Football
Football is under attack. Not from outside the sport, the scientists, lawyers or the families of suffering players, but from the inside. Brain disease (CTE) is a cancer embedded deep within the core of the sport itself. It threatens football’s continuation under its current model unless a solution is found. We know that better helmets, … Continue reading The Future of Football
The Synergy of Light
A story in the NY Times reported a Journal of Applied Physiology research article that found weight training in rats changed the brain. The authors stated how modified strength training appeared to promote the creation of new neurons in the memory centers. This is not the first time exercise and/or other lifestyle habits have been … Continue reading The Synergy of Light
PBM Treatment Results for CTE
In December of 2013, following over 10 hours of neuro-cognitive testing, and preceded by years of ever decreasing emotional control, my wife Laurie and I listened as the Neuro-psychologist summed up my results, “Probable etiology for these changes is multiple head trauma with multiple concussions. Problems with attention and memory are hallmarks of significant brain … Continue reading PBM Treatment Results for CTE
The Research
In past posts, my wife Laurie and I have detailed how we “accidentally” found ourselves in a cluttered office on the twelfth floor of the Boston VA hospital. We were in the office of Dr. Margaret Naeser, a research scientist at the VA for the past 36 years, and a faculty member at the Boston … Continue reading The Research
The Need is Real
On Sunday April 14th a newspaper article about our struggle with CTE appeared in the Deseret News out of Salt Lake City. First online, and then in the Monday paper, the article by Lee Benson, chronicled our journey to find a treatment that actually worked for the symptoms my husband was suffering from. Science was … Continue reading The Need is Real
“Light” is the Answer
As I said in my last post, after around 7 weeks without treatment, we called the VA. We wanted to start the home treatment right away, however Larry needed to go back to Dr. Naeser for another round of fMRI's and testing first. I was really nervous about this step in the study. I knew … Continue reading “Light” is the Answer
