ANNOUNCER:
00:00:42
And a wide open--
JON LAPOOK:
00:00:43
Several professional athletes, such as football players Junior Seau, who died by suicide, and Aaron Hernandez, who killed two men and then himself, were later found to have CTE. The coach kept saying, don't hold your head down. Don't hold your heads down.
JON LAPOOK:
00:00:56
This video shows Tamura playing football in high school. His note listed several CTE experts, including Boston University's Dr. Ann McKee. We spoke with her in 2022 about the risks of CTE from youth sports. The professionals have longer years of exposure, but kids, kids who play high-school sports, they're at risk for these changes.
JON LAPOOK:
00:01:19
Dr. McKee led a 2023 study that found CTE in 14 of 45 football players with suspected brain injury who did not play beyond high school and who died before the age of 30. Dr. McKee told us repeated blows to the head, with or without a concussion, can lead to the disease. It's the hits that are asymptomatic that the player plays right through and, over time, those injuries accumulate and lead to a high risk for CTE. So, Jon, if there's an examination, how quickly could they learn if there was CTE? Dr. McKee told us this afternoon it could take a month or longer to do the special processing and stains that would be needed to see if he has CTE or some other brain disorder. I listened in on your call with Dr. McKee. We were really struck by her thoughts on kids and CTE. Yeah, we were blown away by a statistic. For every 2.6 years of football that a kid plays, it doubles the risk of CTE, and that's including kids who are playing in peewee football. And that's why certain organizations are saying, look, no tackle football before 14 and trying to increase education in coaches. So striking. Jon, thanks so much.
