Week 9 Post 2: CTE Stories

     Learning about people diagnosed with CTE is one of the best ways to truly understand its affects. Mike Webster, former NFL player, was the first person to be diagnosed with CTE. During his life, he showed symptoms of dementia, depression, acts of violence and other abnormal behaviors, and inability to sleep. The changes in his brain caused him to forge Ritalin prescriptions, be unable to maintain a residence, and more until he died of a heart attack at age 50. Aaron Hernandez was also a former NFL player who was found guilty of three murders from the years of 2012 and 2013, and just within days of being put in jail, he committed suicide at the age of 27. He was then diagnosed with Stage 3 of CTE, the youngest person to be diagnosed at this stage.

    Webster, Hernandez, and many other ex-athletes and veterans experienced the symptoms of CTE without knowing what exactly they were suffering from. To experience multiple mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and dementia at the same time due to CTE, it is almost untreatable. The depletion of brain cells as CTE advances in the brain does not only endanger the victim of CTE, but those around them, for example, the murders of Aaron Hernandez. CTE may be considered rare, but the effects of mental illness are not. The continuation of untreated mental illnesses including CTE will carry forth the increasing suicide and homicide rates associated with mental illness, and therefore, mental illness rates will climb as well. It is a vicious cycle that, for CTE, can unfortunately not be easily stopped, but can be prevented with research and raising awareness about CTE and its affects.