Ex-NFL PLayer Dave Duerson Shot Himself In The Chest To Save His Brain For Research

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Posted on 21st February 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Yesterday I posted a blog about ex-Chicago Bear Dave Duerson committing suicide last Thursday. It’s now believed that Duerson shot himself in the chest, rather than in the head, so his brain would be intact for testing for the degenerative disease that is plaguing retired NFL players. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/sports/football/21duerson.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=todayspaper&adxnnlx=1298347229-Dg4cWa3q7aadLplNdLIloA

Not long before he took his own life, Duerson told his family that he wanted his brain tissue examined by Boston University’s Center for the Study of  Traumatic Encephalopathy, according to The New York Times. That center has been collecting, and testing, brain tissue from deceased NFL players. 

The paper reported Monday that Duerson, 50, had confided to a friend that he believed he was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease believed to be the result of repeated concussions during years of playing football.   

In its story Monday, “NFL Players Skaken by Duerson’s Suicide Message,” The Times quoted a number of NFL players who were upset by his actions.

They should be. And they should be worried.  

Ex-NFL Star Dave Duerson Donated His Brain For Study Before Committing Suicide

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Posted on 20th February 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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The life of another former pro football player, who suspected he was suffering from long-term brain damage, has ended in tragedy. In this instance it was Dave Duerson, who committed suicide last Thursday by shooting himself in the chest. He was only 50.

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2011/02/report-duerson-died-of-self-inflicted-gunshot-wound.html

In its obituary,  The New York Times described Duerson as a safety ”who won Super Bowls with the Chicago Bears and the Giants.” When The Times did its obit, it merely said he had died in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla. It was The Chicago Tribune that first revealed that Duerson had taken his own life.  

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/sports/football/19duerson.html?ref=obituaries

On Sunday The Times reported that before Duerson killed himself Thursday, he had texted family members to tell them he wanted his brain tissue to be tested for degenerative brain damage. The disease in question is chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which has been discovered in the brains of several deceased, retired NFL players. It is a condition that can cause depression, dementia and even spark suicides.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/sports/football/20duerson.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

As The Times pointed out, ex-Philadelphia Eagles player Andre Waters committed suicide, and his brain tissue indicated that he had CTE. And evidence of CTE was also found in the brain of Owen Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania football player who also killed himself.       

Duerson told his family that he wanted his brain donated to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University. That research facility is testing the brain tissue of deceased NFL players, looking for evidence of CTE, which has been linked to the repeated concussions and tramatic injury that players take to the head. 

So far, the brains of 13 of the 14 deceased players examined by the center have had CTE, according to The Times.

Duerson had gone through some hard times in recent years. A graduate of Notre Dame, he had to resign from its board after he was charged with pushing his wife, The Times said in his obit. He started a successful business, Brooks Sausage Co., sold it and then launched a second company, Duerson Foods.

But Duerson wound up selling most of Duerson Foods’  assets at auction. He got a divorce, and his home in Highland Park, Ill., went into foreclosure.

His death is heart-breaking. And to his credit, one of his last acts was donating his brain so that scientists can learn more about the disease that probably contributed to his decision to kill himself.  

Skier Lindsey Vonn Races, And Exhibits Concussion Symptoms, Even After Tests Clear Her

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Posted on 14th February 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Champion skier Lindsey Vonn this weekend acted the way NFL players used to act: She returned to the “field,” so to speak, while still not fully recovered from a concussion.

New York Times sports writer Alan Schwarz, the paper’s concussion expert, did an analysis, headlined “Ski Team’s Protocols Fail Vonn,”  of her recent experience with brain injury. Vonn opted to race in skiing championships in Germany, and came in second.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/sports/skiing/14vonn.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

Essentially, Schwarz was trying to convey what a huge risk Vonn had taken by skiing while she was recovering from a Feb. 2 concussion she sustained during a training run.

As The Times wrote, Vonn and the U.S. Ski Team “appeared to hit the trifecta of concussion no-no’s: They called the injury mild, blindly followed so-called concussion tests, then discounted clear signs that her injury remained.”

Roughly a week after her brain injury, Vonn passed concussion tests, according to Schwarz. Those tests gauged memory and balance. So Vonn raced in the super-G at the world championship, placing seventh. During that race, Vonn later said she was “in a fog,” according to Schwarz.     

He quoted her as saying, “My head just isn’t thinking fast enough. I can’t process the information fast enough, and that gets me behind on the course. My body is one gate ahead of where my mind is, and that’s not a good way to ski.”

As Schwarz so eloquently put it, “Rarely has any athlete so clearly described the real-time cognitive effects of an unhealed concussion.”

But Vonn was undaunted by her feelings after that race. She rested last Wednesday, took more concussion tests on Thursday and did a practice run, and also did a full-bore run on Friday. According to Schwartz, on that Friday run Vonn “lost focus” halfway down the course.

Despite her mental problems while racing, and heeding the neurological tests she had passed, Vonn raced Sunday and finished second.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/sports/14skiing.html?ref=todayspaper

“If an NFL player was allowed to compete under those conditions, the team (and league itself) would be roundly flayed for endangering his health,” Schwarz wrote.

He took the U.S. Skiing and Snowboard Association to task repeatedly for  saying in press releases that Vonn had sustained a “mild” concussion. The assocation also defended its concussion protocol, saying that its tests were up to date and that Vonn had not shown any symptoms or flunked a test before a race.

Skiing officials defended that protocol despite Vonn’s “subsequent fogginess and impaired balance midway through all three races,” according to Schwartz.

After coming in second Sunday, Vonn said she had made a safe choice to race since she had passed all her medical tests.

But one slip, one bad move, caused by her concussion could have destroyed Vonn and her skiing career, which is the point of Schwartz’s analysis. That’s because getting hit in the head while still recovering from a concussion can lead to permanent brain damage.

The bravado of a top athlete should not trump safety, and protecting one’s brain.    

 

Casting Doubt On Shaken-Baby Syndrome

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Posted on 13th February 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

 Have dozens of people been wrongly convicted in shaken-baby syndrome cases? 

That’s the issue that The New York Times Magazine tackled Feb. 6, in much detail.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/magazine/06baby-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine

A good portion of the story is about Trudy Ruenda, who was convicted in a shaken-baby case in Fairfax County, Va., involving baby Noah Whitmer. In April 2009 Ruenda was running a day care center, and called “911″ when Noah stopped breathing and lost consciousness.

Hospital doctors did a CT on Noah, and found he had subdural hemorrhaging, or bleeding between the skull and the brain, and retinal hemorrhaging, or bleeding in the back of his eyes. His brain was also swollen, and he went into a coma.

The physicians told Noah’s parents, Erin and Michael Whitmer, that they believed he had been violently shaken. Noah sustained irreparable brain damage. Ruenda maintained her innocence, but was criminally charged and convicted.

The Times reported that there are about 200 shaken-baby prosecutions a year, and that in 50 percent to 75 percent of those cases, the only medical evidence if the trio of injuriies that Noah had. Again, those were subdural and retinal hemorrhages and brain swelling.

But there is now medical evidence that sometimes a baby can sustain brain damage, such as a stroke, yet remain conscious and lucid for some time. When they finally succomb to their injuries, they could be in the care of an innocent babysitter or nanny, who is then accused of shaking them.

In 2008 the Wisconsin Court of Appeals reviewed a shaken-baby case and wrote that there was “fierce disagreement” amlng doctors on the issue, according to The Times.

The paper also quoted Keith Findley, an attorney with the Wisconsin Innocence Project, who maintained that people shouldn’t be prosecuted in shaken-baby cases based on medical evidence without any other proof of abuse.

The story cites a case in Wisconsin, that of Audrey Edmunds, who in 1993 was criminally charged when a 7-month-old she was caring for at her home near Madison, Wis., died. Edmunds denied any wrongdoing, but was convicted and went to jail. 

Edmunds sought a new trial 10 years later. One panel of doctors agreed that the evidence had supported her guilt for shaken-baby syndrome, and another panel of doctors disagreed. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals in Janaury 2008 granted Edmunds a new trial. But prosecutors dropped the charges againt her half a year later.         

The Times story raises some troubling issues about the validity of shaken-baby syndrome, and is worth reading.

Skier Lindsey Vonn Skips Race After Concussion

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Posted on 6th February 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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Champion skier Lindsey Vonn bowed out of a World Cup slalom in Germany Friday due to a concussion, according to the Associated Press.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/05/sports/skiing/05sportsbriefs-vonn.html?scp=4&sq=Lindsey%20Vonn&st=cse

Vonn decided to miss the race, which was won by Marlies Schild of Austria, despite the fact that she was cleared by doctors Friday.

Vonn sustained a concussion during a practice run Wednesday in Austria. 

NHL Says Concussions Have Increased This Season

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Posted on 2nd February 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

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 The number of concussions in pro hockey this season has risen, although the National Hockey League is keeping mum on exactly what the number is so far.

The New York Times published a story Sunday based on a news conference that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman gave during All-Star weekend.   

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/sports/hockey/30nhl.html?_r=1&ref=hockey

He said that there has been an increase in concussions, but attributed that to “accidental and inadvertant” collisions and “fighting,” according to The Times. Direct hits to the head don’t account for the rise in concussions, according to the NHL.

One of the most noteworthy hockey concussions this season was the one sustained by Sidney Crosby, who was hit Jan. 1 and Jan. 5. Crosby was hurt Jan. 1 when another player moved past him, with his shoulder hitting Crosby’s head. 

Rather foolishly, even though Crosby became to have concussion symptoms the day after that injury, he still went back to the rink to play. He took a hit Jan. 5, and was then benched.

This season there have been fewer concussions from blindside head shots, which Bettman said is due to Rule 48, which bans those hits.

Although Bettman wouldn’t say how many concussions there have been so far this season, a researcher said “there was a slight rise over the rate of roughly 75 concussions per year reported in recent seasons,” according to The Times.