New Hope for Athletes Facing Head Trauma
Jan. 16, 2019 marks the one year anniversary of the death of Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski who took his own life. An autopsy revealed that there were no drugs in his system, but he did have stage one chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) a brain disease, which results in progressive destruction of brain tissue, the apparent result of repeated head trauma. CTE is currently incurable and can only be diagnosed posthumously. According to the Boston University CTE Research Center, suspected symptoms of the disease range from confusion to suicidality. Only months before Hilinski’s death, Washington Redskins defensive end Daniel Te’o-Nesheim died with a mixture of pills [...]