Dave Pear's Blog

EDITOR’S NOTE: George Visger caught up with me on the phone this morning just before arriving at a job site. George is back at work trying hard to help his family recover from losing their home after suffering another near-fatal brain shunt failure last October. George is one of the most remarkably intelligent and resilient guys I’ve ever met and his tenacity comes through in everything he does. I often talk to him about what might have happened with his life had he never played professional football and sustained his life-altering brain damage. He starts off with an answer to John Hogan’s earlier post (click HERE to read John Hogan’s comment).
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From TheUnion.com: George Visger, a Grass Valley resident, shows his 1981 San Francisco 49ers team photo and Super Bowl ring. Visger has undergone nine brain surgeries since he stepped off the football field for the final time.

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As many of you following this blog may already know, I developed hydrocephalus – or water on the brain – from repeated brain trauma while playing DT with the SF 49ers during the 1981 Super Bowl season. After undergoing emergency VP Shunt brain surgery during the season, I am now on brain surgery #9 thirty years later. In addition to the brain surgeries, I developed gran mal seizures and am currently on my sixth different anti-seizure medicine.
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During the course of my last 30 years dealing with hydrocephalus and other serious side effects from my short NFL “career”, I have acquired a toolbox of coping mechanisms which allow me to survive as normally as possible. Unfortunately I still don’t follow my own advice as much as I should.
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Let’s look at the side effects and potential treatments for dealing with traumatic brain injuries:
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• Short term memory loss – most of us can vividly remember events from high school, but can’t remember what we did yesterday. Get in the habit of carrying a notebook or recorder in your vehicle. Log everything you can in any way you can. Some techniques may work better than others. I have used Dictaphones with some success but I’m technologically challenged. A Write-in-the-Rain, waterproof notebook and pen work best for me. Get in the habit of reading the prior week or two’s notes every couple days. After reading the same notes 2 -3 times, your brain will begin storing information more readily..
• Anger management issues – you may think you deal with life’s daily stresses normally, but ask those around you how you function. Especially family members, friends and business relationships you trust. Many times when the wives bring these issues up, we immediately dismiss them. DON”T. If you hear the same issues being reiterated to you over and over from different people, act on it. DON’T dismiss what you are hearing as coming from people who don’t know how to “suck it up”. After a while those you are hurting the most will distance themselves from you. THINK before you speak. I have found the hard way, once words are released, you can never take them back.
• Poor judgment – damage to frontal cortex and other areas of the brain will impede your ability to use good judgment. Take extra time to think things out before acting. Sometimes that means rethinking your responses a second time a day or so later..
• Loss of direction – many of us will find ourselves having trouble finding our vehicles when we exit stores, turning the wrong way when leaving parking lots, or even having trouble remembering how to get home. Again, take time to think things out before acting. Football teaches us to react immediately to situations we find ourselves in. Unfortunately, that response doesn’t work well when you have memory deficits. It’s tough for us but slow things down..
• Financial and business problems – it is very hard to maintain a functioning business when you are dealing with all of the above symptoms. Whenever possible, be up front with business associates regarding your memory issues. I am forced to write down everything that goes on in my daily life, including each phone call. Business associates of mine are conditioned to ask “Do you have your notebook handy,” whenever they call. One thing I have learned by writing things down is no one remembers like they think they do..
• Insomnia – when you have a traumatic brain injury, many times the neurons become inflamed. When this occurs you can’t shut things off at night and your mind races when you should be sleeping. Look into taking Melatonin a couple hours before going to bed. I take 3 -4 tablets at night.

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Dave -
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I read that earlier post with the article on Fred McNeil (click HERE) and wanted to thank you and Robert once again for the great tireless job you both do on educating everyone about the real world of professional football.
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We’ve discussed this in the past, and after reading more and more posts on your blog from all the players suffering with early symptoms of CTE (short term memory issues, poor judgment, anger management issues, uncontrollable emotions), I would like to reach out to all and compile a database of contacts. I know if we put our collective minds together (or whatever pieces we have that still function), we can share coping mechanisms each of us has learned to live by. I know I have my bag of tricks and would like to share them with everyone.
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I hope Fred McNeil (and others) have looked into some of these fairly simple, non-medicinal rehab/recovery processes; these are a few of the things that get me through each day:
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1. Look into Workers Compensation. California has been allowing claims to be filed if you were injured while playing in the state, even if it’s not your team’s home state. I successfully sued the 49ers for Workers Comp and won in 1986. Since then, I even used Vocational Rehab to return to school to complete my biology degree (1986 – 1990). They will fight you tooth-and-nail over every penny but be relentless. This isn’t a handout. You paid into Workers Comp and earned every penny!
2. Sleep apnea exam. Ask your wives or significant others if you show symptoms of very loud snoring and long “pauses” in breathing. Inadequate sleep and loss of oxygen when you skip breathing can cause inflammation of neurons and interfere with everyday reasoning and functioning.
3. If you drink: QUIT. I discovered I was having brain seizures from alcohol several months after my third brain surgery and quit in 1982. I had been arrested 3X in the 8 prior months after my first surgery! A couple beers may seem OK, but can cause short circuits in the brain’s electrical system.
4. Look into Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment (HBOT). I have had great results with my first 80 treatments. I am beginning to suspect my latest deterioration is associated with my last Shunt malfunction a few weeks ago and will be tested for petit mal seizures. Prior to the malfunction and subsequently stopping the hyperbarics, I was doing better than I have for decades.
5. Omega-3 fish oil. The brain is mainly made of EPA and DHA which makes up Omega-3 fish oils. While the jury may still out on whether the body uses these to repair damaged brain tissue, even if Omega 3′s are not necessarily used to repair neurological tissues, they’re great for reducing cholesterol. We all know what our diets were like to maintain our weights.
6. Work simple memory games. Even kids’ games. It’s been proven that you can “exercise your brain” and grow new neurons into areas of the brain which are not damaged. Humans use less than 10% of their brains. Get those brain cells currently sitting on the sidelines into the game!
7. Change your routines. If you always brush your teeth with your right hand, start using your left. Shake hands with the opposite hand. Changes out of the ordinary force you to concentrate on simple tasks, which in turn causes your brain to construct new neurons into areas of the brain which aren’t being used.
8. Stay positive. It’s been scientifically proven that if you think you’ll get better, you’ll function better. Something good always comes out of everything and we’re being tested for a reason.
9. Get mad. It’s time we quit accepting the fact we are used, discarded pieces of meat when the NFL is done with us and it’s time to kick the owners right in the teeth to get their attention. That means hitting them where it hurts – in the pocket book. And to do that, we need our stories out there to get public support. We all need to be forgiving but anger is not a bad thing if used constructively. Let’s use it to motivate ourselves to be proactive.
10. Don’t be shy. Get your stories out there. In the last year or so since I discovered Dave’s Blog, I have reached out to media and sent in comments on any articles related to football injuries, traumatic brain injuries etc. every chance I get. We need to let the public know what’s going on. Without public support, we’re just a few thousand “millionaire crybabies” in the public’s eyes. Remember: It’s the public who buys the tickets, pays for cable and supports the greedy owners. What we have done up to now hasn’t worked.
11. Keep plugged into Dave Pear’s Blog. Reach out to as many other discarded NFL players, college players, coaches etc. There’s strength in numbers and a wealth of information to share here. Just knowing that others are dealing with the same issues I’ve had for years has been huge for me. We were all indoctrinated into the mindset that real men/players don’t bitch about their problems. Everyone has a cross to bear. They’re much easier to carry when some of your brothers hoist up a corner.

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To all my wounded brothers,

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For Gregg, Dave and all the wounded brothers out there -

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Many of you have been following our friend, George Visger’s recent brain shunt emergency this past weekend. The good news is that George made a strong recovery from this recent episode and we’re posting more details that have just come in from George below. As gory and complex as some of it may sound, most people generally know little about these procedures which actually happen more frequently than get reported. The Washington Post ran another series recently on brain injuries in sports and provided detailed information and graphics on hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and the shunt surgery that’s used to alleviate the problem.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: We just received some good news from George Visger. This is reality for a lot of retired players:

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Picture a 259-pound young man of 21 who had lifted weights for 10 years in order to get a job with Kmart finally being hired by Kmart. Both his older brothers and father had worked at jobs below Kmart but never made it there. He had dreams of being better than all of them. During his interview, the supervisor told the young man with a wink, that there was a place for him at Kmart if he could put on 20 – 25 pounds of solid muscle without losing any speed. The caveat was it needed to be done before he started work in 3 months. Considering there were 50 others vying for his job and he had planned on buying his parents a new home and helping his older brother start a business, the young man returned to school, obtained a prescription for steroids, as he knew the supervisors request was not physically possible without chemical help. He returned to work 3 months later weighing 275 pounds while maintaining his speed as requested. Despite the fact he had fulfilled his obligation, his supervisor fired him after 6 weeks.

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Dave,

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I feel for the “terror” today’s players must be facing regarding a work stoppage. (To read the Sporting News article ‘NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith: ‘A lot of players are terrified’ about a work stoppage’ – Click HERE.) Luckily, I was able to support myself and family these last 28 years on the $65,000 plus partial playoff money (another $14,000) I made while a member of San Francisco 49′ers team in ’81. Shoot, if I wasn’t such an economically suave 23-year old when I was injured, I never would have survived the next 7 brain surgeries over the years. (The fact I had to sue for Workers Comp to get brain surgeries #2 and #3 paid did help keep the creditors at bay for a while.)

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Last week, the NFL announced the appointment of two doctors to their newly-renamed NFL Head, Neck and Spine Medical Committee (formerly co-chaired by Dr. No Ira Casson as the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury – MTBI – Committee). Here’s a clip from the New York Times’ Alan Schwarz:

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