Study Reveals Brain Damage in Deceased NFL Player

An examination performed on the brain of Dave Duerson, a former NFL player who committed suicide and asked that his brain be studied by scientists, revealed that the two-time Super Bowl winner did suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease that is being commonly with athletes who play high-contact sports.

Duerson committed suicide in February, shooting himself in the chest and leaving a note behind that specifically requested that his brain be studied for signs of the brain deterioration he was sure he had. Indeed, scientists at Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy released their findings Monday, confirming what Duerson suspected all along.

"Dave Duerson had classic pathology of CTE and no evidence of any other disease," researcher Ann McKee told the Associated Press, "and he has severe involvement of all the [brain] structures that affect things like judgment, inhibition, impulse control, mood and memory."

Of the 14 brains that the center has studied to date, 13 have shown signs consistent with CTE.

The NFL released a statement, recommitting itself to the hope that more studies and more research will lead to a decrease in these sorts of conditions:

We once again express our deepest sympathy to the Duerson family. Dave Duerson was an outstanding player, but an even better person, including being recognized in 1987 as the NFL Man of the Year (now the Walter Payton Award) for his significant contributions to community service. We hope these findings will contribute more to the understanding of CTE. Our Head, Neck and Spine Medical Committee will study today’s findings, and as a league we will continue to support the work of the scientists at the Boston University Center and elsewhere to address this issue in a forthright and effective way. We also will continue to ensure that concussions are properly treated in the NFL, expand the help we are providing to our retired players, further evaluate playing rule and policy changes to reduce and prevent unnecessary contact with the head, and advocate for the passage of Lystedt laws in all states to better protect young athletes in that suffer concussions in any sport.

The BU research center has more than 70 brains in its brain bank, and is already getting commitments from players outside of football. Boxer Micky Ward, a former champion whose life story was told in the Oscar-winning movie The Fighter, has already pledged to donate his brain to the center upon his passing.

In an era where even popular videogames are taking a cue from the NFL and doing their part to relay the risk of traumatic brain injuries to young kids, it's become an issue that has been shown to affect not just middle-aged former players like the 50-year-old Duerson but also much older and younger players, both those who had lived a full life and whose lives had barely been lived at all.

The science is accelerating, thanks to the work being done at places like Boston University, but as Chris Nowinski, the director of the BU center, told AP, any future progress must realistically focus on the younger generation just learning to play football and similar physical sports.

"The 6-year-olds are playing the same games as the pros when we know that their brains are far more susceptible to this damage," Nowinski said. "My next focus is how do we change youth football so that a kid doesn't show up in the NFL with 10,000 hits to their head already?"

Duerson's son Tregg was at the press conference in Boston yesterday that unveiled the study's findings, and he expressed confidence that through his father's tragic death, someone in the future will ultimately be saved from similar suffering.

"It is our hope that through this research questions that go beyond our interest may be answered," he said, "questions that lead to a safer game of football from professionals to Pop Warner.”