ABC: Fearing Memory Loss, Ben Utecht Writes Letter to Family

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BleedGopher

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per ABC:

Retired NFL player Ben Utecht has written a letter to his wife and daughters for the day he can no longer remember who they are, he told Congress today.

“I wrote the letter on a plane ride home with the brim of my hat over my eyes to hide the tears as they began to flow,” said Utecht, 32, who was a tight end for the Indianapolis Colts and the Cincinnati Bengals before suffering a career-ending concussion in 2009.

Utecht said he spent eight months in rehab battling dizziness, amnesia, sleeplessness and night sweats after the injury, which was his fifth documented concussion. Now, his memory is fading away.

“What’s my greatest fear?” he said to Congress. “It’s to be trapped inside the coffin of my mind. To wake up one morning and not remember the faces and names of the people I cherish the most.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/fearing-memory-loss-nfl-player-pens-letter-family/story?id=24282827

Go Gophers!!
 

The issue of concussions is not going to go away. If there isn't a real solution, football may eventually be flag football.

Sent from my LG-L38C using Tapatalk 2
 

I golfed with Ben on Monday at the NFL Alumni charity outing. It was sad to hear the details behind his story and to read this. What a great guy. Hopefully he will help make some changes in this area.
 

RodentRampage said:
The issue of concussions is not going to go away. If there isn't a real solution, football may eventually be flag football.

Sent from my LG-L38C using Tapatalk 2
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Nope.

Science will catch up eventually. The brain has simply not been studied enough to effectively treat these injuries right now. Likely in the future diagnosis and treatment will be much improved to the point where brain damage could be identified and corrected with every concussion. It's really not that far off, perhaps 20 years. It's amazing the things that are in the pipeline of medical research. Utecht might even be(hopefully) young enough to see some of these treatments.

Alternatively the fact that football and other sports pose a risk of these type of brain injuries are now more evident giving athletes educated choices to make as to whether they want to risk injury. They're not helpless or in the dark now. If they decide to play through their 4th concussion, that's their choice, and I would hope they are willing to live with that going forward rather than work towards banning a sport that does have many redeeming aspects to it for players at all levels.
 

Ole said:
Nope.

Science will catch up eventually. The brain has simply not been studied enough to effectively treat these injuries right now. Likely in the future diagnosis and treatment will be much improved to the point where brain damage could be identified and corrected with every concussion. It's really not that far off, perhaps 20 years. It's amazing the things that are in the pipeline of medical research. Utecht might even be(hopefully) young enough to see some of these treatments.

Alternatively the fact that football and other sports pose a risk of these type of brain injuries are now more evident giving athletes educated choices to make as to whether they want to risk injury. They're not helpless or in the dark now. If they decide to play through their 4th concussion, that's their choice, and I would hope they are willing to live with that going forward rather than work towards banning a sport that does have many redeeming aspects to it for players at all levels.
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Nobody is talking about banning football but significant changes are coming in how the game will be played. It is long overdue. Football has very few redeeming aspects to it that athletes couldn't get from playing other sports. That is the biggest change that is coming to football. In the future, many parents are gong to steer their sons into other sports.
 


Ole said:
Nope.

Science will catch up eventually. The brain has simply not been studied enough to effectively treat these injuries right now. Likely in the future diagnosis and treatment will be much improved to the point where brain damage could be identified and corrected with every concussion. It's really not that far off, perhaps 20 years. It's amazing the things that are in the pipeline of medical research. Utecht might even be(hopefully) young enough to see some of these treatments.
Click to expand...

For decades, people have been saying that commercially viable nuclear fusion will be ready within 20 years. I think we'll have fusion someday, but there's no reason to assume it's right around the corner. Similarly, we can't assume that concussions will be treatable within 20 years, we can't hand-wave the problem away.

Alternatively the fact that football and other sports pose a risk of these type of brain injuries are now more evident giving athletes educated choices to make as to whether they want to risk injury. They're not helpless or in the dark now. If they decide to play through their 4th concussion, that's their choice, and I would hope they are willing to live with that going forward rather than work towards banning a sport that does have many redeeming aspects to it for players at all levels.
Click to expand...

Saying "Screw 'em! They made their choice!" isn't going to cut it. You might wish that players were willing to live with concussions, but that wishing doesn't do anything. If something isn't done, we're going to see less athletes playing football, and less schools having football teams. If we don't want flag football, then there needs to be a better solution. Better equipment can help, but the benefits are lost if players simply play more recklessly, we need both better equipment and rule changes.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
Nobody is talking about banning football but significant changes are coming in how the game will be played. It is long overdue. Football has very few redeeming aspects to it that athletes couldn't get from playing other sports. That is the biggest change that is coming to football. In the future, many parents are gong to steer their sons into other sports.
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There is not a chance in hell my kid plays Football or Hockey. I love the sport, but it's not going to involve my family. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
 

afurry91 said:
There is not a chance in hell my kid plays Football or Hockey. I love the sport, but it's not going to involve my family. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
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You're absolutely not the only one. I don't have kids, yet, but they can play golf with me and basketball in the winters to get to know other kids. No baseball, I refuse to give up all my weekends going to tournaments plus I see my friends that are former baseball players and their golf swings are difficult for me to watch.
 

maroonedinCA said:
You're absolutely not the only one. I don't have kids, yet, but they can play golf with me and basketball in the winters to get to know other kids. No baseball, I refuse to give up all my weekends going to tournaments plus I see my friends that are former baseball players and their golf swings are difficult for me to watch.
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I didn't know basketball was a weekday sport all of a sudden? If you're worried about missing weekends I would recommend using condoms.
 



afurry91 said:
There is not a chance in hell my kid plays Football or Hockey. I love the sport, but it's not going to involve my family. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
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Spot on with my thoughts. I love the game, but my kids aren't playing FB for a living so I won't let them endanger their future lives by playing it now. I may get some flack now for this stance, but I'm guessing it will be quite common by the time my kids become adults. They can play other sports to learn what they can from sport.
 


RodentRampage said:
For decades, people have been saying that commercially viable nuclear fusion will be ready within 20 years. I think we'll have fusion someday, but there's no reason to assume it's right around the corner. Similarly, we can't assume that concussions will be treatable within 20 years, we can't hand-wave the problem away.



Saying "Screw 'em! They made their choice!" isn't going to cut it. You might wish that players were willing to live with concussions, but that wishing doesn't do anything. If something isn't done, we're going to see less athletes playing football, and less schools having football teams. If we don't want flag football, then there needs to be a better solution. Better equipment can help, but the benefits are lost if players simply play more recklessly, we need both better equipment and rule changes.
Click to expand...

No doubt on the equipment, there's more that can be done there.
I'm simply not going to ring the alarm bells like some.
Head injuries can happen in any sport, many happen in sports you wouldn't expect like girls soccer.
If my son wants to play football he can, there's more to gain than lose IMO. I'm not going to bubble wrap him because the possibility exists he could get hurt. That goes for plenty of things not just sports.

As for the science, the prevalence of Alzheimer's in the boomer generation, the brain injuries that came home from our soldiers in the Middle East wars, and the awakening of our major sports to this subject will expedite brain research to new heights in the near future, it's not a hand wave away, it's lots of people interested in solving the problem who 20 years ago didn't give a thought to the subject.
 

I won't let my kids drive either. Odds are better they'll get in an accident. Don't think concussions don't occur in basketball. Soccer has a high rate as well.
 



My kids also will not be allowed to play football or hockey. Baseball, basketball, lacrosse, golf, tennis, and others are just fine.
 

You haven't watched boys lacrosse then. Baseball has plenty of concussions too. I came name three Twins whose career was almost ended by concussions.
 

maroonedinCA said:
...I refuse to give up all my weekends going to tournaments...
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Way to be there and supporting your (non-existent) children. Better not the them sign up for chess club, theater, band or orchestra...etc. etc. etc. et al.

maroonedinCA said:
...plus I see my friends that are former baseball players and their golf swings are difficult for me to watch.
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I don't know what level your friends played at, but my team made it to the Legion World Series, and after college, I got down to a 4 handicap. That is, until I stopped playing a lot to coach, watch, teach, and be involved with my kids for all kinds of weekend activities, including baseball, football, chess team and orchestra.

But hey...I'll bet your future kids will be awesome online gamers and internet trolls. Apple don't fall far from the tree.
 

Unregistered User said:
Way to be there and supporting your (non-existent) children. Better not the them sign up for chess club, theater, band or orchestra...etc. etc. etc. et al.



I don't know what level your friends played at, but my team made it to the Legion World Series, and after college, I got down to a 4 handicap. That is, until I stopped playing a lot to coach, watch, teach, and be involved with my kids for all kinds of weekend activities, including baseball, football, chess team and orchestra.

But hey...I'll bet your future kids will be awesome online gamers and internet trolls. Apple don't fall far from the tree.
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+1
 

While I agree there should be rules about spearing, leading with the head, mandatory time-off after injury I think there is more than a little bit of hysteria about this issue. It is a real issue, no question. but, I'd also wager there is more than a little encouragement of this by the ambulance chasers.

What I'd like to see is a breakdown of grade of concussion, incidence of post-concussive disorder by grade of concussion, etc. what I found was 6.2 concussions per 10,000 practices or games. No severity given.

Most concussions heal without problem or long term sequelae. I'd like to see reviews of the incidence of these physical and psychological symptoms ground down by grade of concussion, position played, number of concussions vs the general public.

Like most things, there is a risk involved. We don't really know the extent of the risks at this time.
 

I read recently that girls playing soccer have more concussions than boys playing football - those headers are the problem. But take them out of soccer and the game is just not the same.
 

Ole said:
I'm not going to bubble wrap him because the possibility exists he could get hurt. That goes for plenty of things not just sports.
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I get your point, and agree with the theory. However, what Ben is going through and getting "hurt" are not comparable. Breaking an arm and damaging your brain should not be compared. There are definitely two sides to this discussion and both have valid arguments. I don't think either side is right or wrong - but there is a right decision for each individual family.
 

Spoofin said:
I get your point, and agree with the theory. However, what Ben is going through and getting "hurt" are not comparable. Breaking an arm and damaging your brain should not be compared. There are definitely two sides to this discussion and both have valid arguments. I don't think either side is right or wrong - but there is a right decision for each individual family.
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Didn't he have 5 concussions though, he obviously either got really bad medical advice after the first few, or played through them because he loved the game and knew the risks.
I think it's worth discussing all options, but this isn't just a football issue, it's potentially societal. Diagnosis are getting better as are the tests that can define how severe the brain function has been disrupted. The science has improved awareness whether it's a car accident or a helmet to helmet hit.

As for letting kids play sports or not that's a parental decision, and it's possible I suppose that football, hockey, etc participation may go down, but that doesn't mean the entire game needs to be overhauled IMO.

BTW I'm pretty sure concussion incidences go football, hockey, girls soccer, boys lacrosse, boys soccer. Maybe someone with access to the updated MSHSL stats on that can correct me, but the numbers of concussions aren't drastically more for football than any of the top 5.(like 2x #1 to #3)
 

Pompous Elitist said:
What I'd like to see is a breakdown of grade of concussion, incidence of post-concussive disorder by grade of concussion, etc. what I found was 6.2 concussions per 10,000 practices or games. No severity given.
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+1. Also I would like to see some data on concussions by age. I'm guessing the frequency is much lower with younger kids, and with dad's genetics my kids won't be playing college ball anyways.

A lot of it comes down to responsible coaching as well. I had coaches who were good, and some not so good about making sure their players stayed safe. In HS, one of our better LBs was forced to switch to TE and ride the pine once we got to varsity because he couldn't tackle with his head up, and was putting himself in danger. In retrospect it was the right thing to do, but you have to wonder why it didn't happen sooner.
 

I find it amazing we can get updated cell phones every 6 months yet we can't design a helmet to eliminate concussions.
Whose zooming who? The people who manufacture helmets (Rydell, etc ) aren't doing their jobs. A better helmet that lasts means no reorder every year or two on the current model....ya think?
 

Mvgopher said:
I won't let my kids drive either. Odds are better they'll get in an accident. Don't think concussions don't occur in basketball. Soccer has a high rate as well.
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Reported H.S. Concussion Rates per 10,000 athletic exposures, as reported by athletic trainers, by sport:

Sport------Boys - Girls

Football----11.2 - NA
Lacrosse--- 6.9 - 5.2
Soccer-----4.2 - 6.7
Wrestling---6.2 - NA
Basketball--2.8 - 5.6
Baseball----1.2 - NA

Source: National Academy of Sciences, Datalys Center (2010-12)


i1062-6050-42-2-311-f05.jpg
 

ruppertflywheel said:
I find it amazing we can get updated cell phones every 6 months yet we can't design a helmet to eliminate concussions.
Whose zooming who? The people who manufacture helmets (Rydell, etc ) aren't doing their jobs. A better helmet that lasts means no reorder every year or two on the current model....ya think?
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There's no Moore's Law for neuroscience, so your example falls a bit flat. If concussions stemmed from the actual impact you might have a gripe. The brain sloshing around in the skull is what causes the injury, i.e. rotational acceleration/deceleration. Unless Rydell puts a layer of foam between the brain and the skull, there's only so much that can be done with a helmet.

In other news, a group in Sweden has just reported a blood test for concussions. Interestingly, the level of the biomarker (tau) measured 1 hour after concussion predicted the number of days for the symptoms to return to baseline.

http://archneur.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1846623
 

Mvgopher said:
I won't let my kids drive either. Odds are better they'll get in an accident. Don't think concussions don't occur in basketball. Soccer has a high rate as well.
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So you're saying that the odds that your kid will become injured in a car accident are greater than him experiencing multiple concussions in football? Where do I take that bet?

Your extremist counter arguments are neither funny, nor coherent. My guess is you use that argument for everything related to how you parent your kids, and I'm sure your kids will grow up to be wonderful contributors to society.

Better let your 14 year old stay out till 2am, because we wouldn't want to "bubble wrap" our kids.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
I find it amazing we can get updated cell phones every 6 months yet we can't design a helmet to eliminate concussions.
Whose zooming who? The people who manufacture helmets (Rydell, etc ) aren't doing their jobs. A better helmet that lasts means no reorder every year or two on the current model....ya think?
Click to expand...

Lol.
 


Even though child's brains are more susceptible to injury concussions are the least common in youth football and get more common as the competition increases, not the other way around so not letting you're kid play football until he is "old enough" is actually counterproductive. I guess most of you are just saying you won't let them play at any age though.
 

There are two choices: solve the problem yourself or let someone else solve the problem. If someone else solves the problem, you might not like their solution.
 

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