I recently returned from my second exam at Dr. Amen’s clinic on July 10, 2010. My first exam was conducted over 3 days in October of 2009. The October exam was much more thorough than the standard NFL exam due to the fact I have survived 8 (or 9, I’ve lost track) NFL-caused emergency VP Shunt brain surgeries.
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I felt it imperative to relay my updated story and exam results and reach out to all our NFL brothers and their families who may unknowingly be fighting the same demons my family and I have fought the last 29 years since my first NFL-caused emergency brain surgery.
NPR’s Tell Me More with host, Michel Martin, interviewed Dr. Eleanor Perfetto and Brent Boyd this morning. Dr. Perfetto recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of her husband, Ralph Wentzel, who played lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the San Diego Chargers from 1966 – 1973; her lawsuit is the first workers’ compensation claim for dementia resulting from brain injuries incurred while playing football. Ralph Wentzel is now living in an assisted living facility with severe dementia. The NFL’s Plan 88 is covering his assisted living costs ($88,000 a year). Brent Boyd was an offensive lineman for the Minnesota Vikings and was diagnosed with early onset dementia 4 years ago. (Brent’s website is HERE.)
Dr. Eleanor Perfetto
Brent Boyd
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You can read the entire transcript on NPR’s site – Click HERE. You can also listen to the 13-minute interview by clicking on the Play arrow on the player below:
Dr. Daniel Amen has just allowed us to post a great interview in which he discusses his interest in studying the current debate and issues, how his clinic is studying the problem, as well as some of the new findings that have started to come out of these ongoing studies. (The entire interview is only 13:00 minutes long and covers a lot of topics so please take a few minutes to watch this for yourself and your loved ones.)
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We encourage all retired players to take advantage of Dr. Amen’s offer to join their study and to help you find out more about what’s going on in your brain. The scan and followup are free – all you have to do is get yourself down to Newport Beach CA. Call Dr. Kristen Willeumier (949) 266-3703 to set an appointment or visit their website for more information(click HERE).
Once in a while, we run across a piece so well-written and easy-to-understand that to try and improve on it would be a waste of time. The following is a recent post written by Jordan Kobritz in The Seymour Herald (out of Seymour, Tennessee) and we’re posting the entire piece with the kind permission of Herald Publisher Joe Karl.
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kobritz’s corner
You gotta love the PR machine that is the $7 billion-a-year juggernaut known as the NFL.
At a time when former players are communicating more than ever and becoming better informed on the various issues involving “us,” I want to urge all players to take advantage of the available resources being offered. Regardless of where you stand on the issues of retired players there is one thing I emphatically know for certain. We all subjected ourselves to hits or blows to the head! Whether it was in practice or in games, we all were subjected to head trauma. Personally, I was diagnosed in 1990 with Post Concussion Syndrome. The date is significant because it was 2 years after I left football and was deemed to be a permanent condition. For almost 20 years now I know what I’ve been dealing with and I have my ways to manage it. Unfortunately, I know so many former players who never thought of the head traumas they sustained as a player but are now having serious neurological issues (depression, mood swings, sensitivity to noise/lights, forgetfulness, etc.) well into the next phase of their lives.
SPACE
If any of you are wrestling with neurological issues that you are aware of or may have been brought to your attention by a loved one I would strongly encourage you to take advantage of the Amen Clinic’s free offer. If you don’t want to do it for yourself, please consider doing it for your families. As I look at the many older former players dealing with their health issues (especially dementia and Alzheimer’s) and as I see those younger (40-50 year old) guys who are now struggling with their issues I am aware that the clock is ticking for many of us in some way, shape or form. Please do what you need to do to take care of YOU!
One of the presentations that drew a lot of attention during The Summit was from Bruce Laird of Fourth and Goal. Fourth and Goal has been in ongoing discussions with the NFL to use the NFL Alumni organization as a possible platform for advocacy of disability and pension reform. At the conclusion of The Summit, the group voted to continue moving forward without embracing any single organization at this early stage while encouraging and supporting all organizations that will advance retired players’ issues. (You can look at the evolving Summit blog by clicking HERE and you’ll find Bruce Laird’s presentation under the PowerPoints tab – or click HERE.)
Bernie Parrish has already voiced some of his strong opinions in no uncertain terms (HERE and HERE) and this is definitely going to make it a very hot summer topic. There’s no middle ground or gray area on this one. Do the retired players embrace an existing organization that has been looked on as another business-as-usual club for elite members or will they be embracing an organization that’s been reborn into something that can actually serve the membership at large with complete transparency and representation for each and every one of its members? Only time will tell and everyone’s watching closely.
In the meantime, we’re encouraging everyone to join in an open dialog to make their voices and arguments heard. We hope that everyone will take advantage of the new technology tools available to us today so anyone can voice their opinions. We just received some comments from Jeff Nixon and Tony Davis who were both also at The Summit. So we’re posting them here tonight in hopes of starting a civil discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of the Alumni deal. We only ask that each of you keep your comments from getting personal. This will be cross-posted on Dave’s blog and on the new Football Summit blog.
Most people probably don’t even remember the cartoon strip Pogo from the 40s through the 80s but that little cartoon possum from Walt Kelly had some of the best lines ever written. My favorite Pogo line?
So it was a surprise to most of us when we read a recent article in the New York Times by Alan Schwarz:
Dave,
