The Trump Senate candidate in Georgia, Herschel Walker, is very likely to have CTE, a very serious, progressive, and non-curable brain disease.
By RJ Crane, editor
topplebush.com</p>
I felt compelled to write this article because no one I have heard or read in the mainstream media or elsewhere has given any thought to this issue if they were even aware of it. There's been a big blind spot in covering all the abnormalities observed and reported in the past regarding Hershel Walker. Knowing that the therapist who has been treating him for much of this time for various mental disorders, Jerry Mungadze, a licensed counselor in Texas with a history of embracing practices that experts in the field say are outside the mainstream, means Walker's avoided dealing with CTE.</p>
CTE or chronic traumatic encephalopathy is described by the Boston University CTE Research Center as “a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma” especially in athletes, such as football players and boxers. Over time, it causes nerve cells in the brain and parts of the nervous system to deteriorate and die. The researchers at Boston University’s CTE Center studied the brains of 111 former NFL players. In a July 2017 study published in JAMA, they revealed that 110 -- or 99% -- of those brains tested positive for CTE. This same study also found alarming high levels of CTE among former college football players.</p>
CTE is unique but not unlike other neurodegenerative diseases. Before CTE was revealed as a distinct brain disorder, many football players and others who played certain sports and had multiple concussions were often misdiagnosed as having Alzheimer's or ALS, or Parkinson's. Herschel Walker participated in both boxing and mixed martial arts and football as a professional. He played football in both the United States Football League and the NFL for about 15 years total. He also played football in high school and college too. He boxed in at least two matches and trained for MMA. Having played in football for a very long period of time, it's almost a certainty he has some stage of CTE and likely an advanced stage of CTE based on numerous symptoms. We also know that Newt Gingrich said: "He 'Walker' had a lot of concussions coming out of football, he suffered PTSD" as a rationale to explain all of Walker's observed disabilities as a candidate after the story about how he paid for an abortion came out.</p>
For every year of absorbing the pounding and repeated head collisions that come with playing American tackle football, a person’s risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) increases by 30 percent. And for every 2.6 years of play, the risk of developing CTE doubles. These newer findings come from an analysis of the brains of 266 deceased former amateur and professional football players—reported in Annals of Neurology by a team of researchers from the Boston University CTE Center. They are the first to quantify the strength of the link between playing tackle football and developing CTE. From this data and the list of CTE symptoms one must assume that Herschel Walker likely has CTE.</p>
Because this disease can only be confirmed through a post-mortem autopsy, many athletes who have played a number of years in these sports likely have it and have symptoms of it. But we can't know the full extent of this injury unless all the brains are autopsied post mortem of those suspected of having it. Of 202 former players of the U.S. version of the game whose brains were examined, 87% showed the diagnostic signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Among former National Football League (NFL) players in the sample, that number jumped to 99%.</p>
Studies suggest that CTE begins as focal cortical lesions that evolve into a progressive neurodegeneration, and the disease worsens with age even in the absence of additional exposure to head trauma. So as Herschel Walker ages his symptoms will increase and grow worse. With that risk in play, what might happen if he gets into a heated argument with a fellow Senator? Would he resort to violence again since this happened quite recently? Jovan Belcher, who played linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs, shot and killed his girlfriend in 2012 before driving to the Chiefs facility and taking his own life in the parking lot. He was 25. And we all know about OJ Simpson, who repeatedly beat his wife Nicole before viciously killing her and a friend with a knife. He once told reporters at the Buffalo News that he thought he might have CTE. Simpson played for the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers over an 11-year career.
Professional wrestler Chris Benoit killed his wife and his 7-year-old son before taking his own life at their Georgia home.</p>
At that time, CTE was not yet a widely known disease but an autopsy performed later on Benoit's brain confirmed he had this disease. Former NFL quarterback Mark Rypien was charged with fourth-degree assault-domestic violence and he and his wife suspected that CTE was the cause. Aaron Hernandez was an elite tight end with the University of Florida and the New England Patriots and played three years for the Patriots. He was found guilty for the 2013 first-degree murder of Odin Lloyd, who he had known previously. Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Then, on April 19, 2017, Hernandez was found hanging in his cell while serving his life sentence. He was 27. According to Boston University experts, Hernandez suffered what was considered the worst case of CTE “seen by BU experts in a young person." In case you're interested here is a list of former NFL players who tested positive post-mortem for CTE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NFL_players_with_chronic_traumatic_encephalopathy</p>
When was CTE first uncovered?:</p>
Mike Webster, a Pro Football Hall of Fame center for the Pittsburgh Steelers, died in 2002. During an autopsy on Webster’s body, forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu identified a new kind of brain injury he coined chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. Since then a landmark 2017 study by Boston University researchers found that the brains of 110 of 111 deceased NFL players they examined showed signs of CTE. These brains were likely donated by families of players who had exhibited neurologic and psychiatric symptoms, thus skewing the sample.</p>
What are the symptoms of CTE?:
Symptoms which have been associated with CTE, which are similar to other neurodegenerative diseases include:</p>
1. Loss of memory
2. Confusion and flawed or impaired judgment
3. Changes in mood, personality, and behavior, which can include depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and actions, and aggression
4. Dementia, in the disease’s later stages
Symptoms of CTE often begin long after the person with the disease last had a blow to the head.
Is CTE reversible or curable? And how is it treated?:
It's not reversible or curable. There are no therapies to treat CTE until it can be diagnosed in living patients. However, some of the symptoms can be treated. For example, behavioral therapies can help treat mood changes. I am assuming that's the same kind medication Walker was taking for his "depression" or still is taking.</p>
What CTE symptoms are associated currently with Herschel Walker?:
1. Loss of memory. He admitted he struggled with this and was diagnosed at the time with having a multiple personality disorder. He still claims he never paid for an abortion despite all the proof that he did. He also couldn't remember some of the children he fathered or the person whose abortion he paid for.
2. He claimed he had been dealing with depression and was treated for this.
3. He has been repeatedly used violent aggression towards an ex-wife, other women, a person he conducted business with, a Dallas Cowboys' cheerleader, and police threatening them with guns and threats to kill them on multiple occasions and/or stalking them. Actions that were reported and witnessed by others. The violent threats made against police was quite recent.
4. He often acts confused and his judgment has been very impaired. He often can't put together a complete logical sentence making it hard to understand what he's saying and often what he says is contradictory to what he may have intended to say.
5. Changes in mood and personality and behavior: He admitted to being treated for dissociative identity disorder aka multiple personality disorder with as many as a dozen different personalities.
6. Suicidal thoughts or actions: He admitted to playing Russian roulette with a gun loaded with one bullet pointing at his head.
7. Walker has repeatedly lied about his past inflating his academic record and business record. He should be labeled a pathological liar because most of the things he has claimed could easily be disproved including his denials of things that he has done to other women.
8. Walker’s unpredictable behavior carried over into his chicken business, now known as Renaissance Man Food Services. A wrongful termination lawsuit filed in 2018 by a friend and former manager of Walker’s company created an extensive record of Walker’s leadership. Although a judge ruled against the employee, John Staples, emails, documents and depositions in the case present Walker as a temperamental and unreliable business partner.</p>
In summary: We already know from Newt Gingrich that Walker had "lots concussions playing football." He also played football for at least 15 years professionally. Those who had the longest careers in football, playing more than 14.5 years, were 10 times more likely to develop CTE than those who played fewer years. I doubt we will ever know how many suspected concussions Walker suffered because at the time he was involved in football no one was aware of CTE or tracking or treating these injuries like they are now. Players suspected of having a concussion back when Walker played football often were sent back into the same game, or started practicing the following week and/or were playing in the next game when they shouldn't have been. Maybe a reporter should talk to his football coach at Georgia, Vince Dooley, or ask various players and coaches on the teams he played for at the University of Georgia, in the United States Football League, and the NFL to get a more exact number than "lots" of them.</p>
By RJ Crane, editor
topplebush.com</p>
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References:
1. Ninety-nine percent of ailing NFL player brains show hallmarks of neurodegenerative disease, autopsy study finds
Study could ramp up pressure to further protect players of American football
25 JUL 2017, BY MEREDITH WADMAN
2. CTE linked with violence in many professional athletes
Former quarterback Mark Rypien isn't the only athlete to run into issues suspected to be caused by CTE. Author: Ian Smay, Published: 4:52 PM PDT July 1, 2019.
3. List of NFL players with chronic traumatic encephalopathy - Wikipedia
4. CTE: Football’s Growing Medical Crisis, Medically Reviewed by Melinda Ratini, DO, MS, on September 28, 2020
5. CTE Risk More Than Doubles after Just Three Years of Playing Football
BU researchers discover a strong link between time of football play and rising chance of getting the disease, OCTOBER 7, 2019, By LISA BROWN
6. As Herschel Walker eyes Senate run, a turbulent past emerges
By BRIAN SLODYSKO, BILL BARROW and JAKE BLEIBERG, July 23, 2021.
7. Newt Gingrich stepped in to defend Herschel Walker. It didn't go well.
Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large, Updated 1:33 PM EDT, Thu October 06, 2022.
8. Herschel Walker Acknowledges Two More Children He Hadn’t Mentioned, By Maya King
June 16, 2022.
9. Democrats emphasize Herschel Walker's threats against ex-wife in new Georgia ad
Walker, who is aiming to unseat Sen. Raphael Warnock in a closely watched race, has attributed his past episodes of violence to dissociative identity disorder., By Henry J. Gomez, NBC News, Aug. 31, 2022, 7:30 AM EDT.
10. CORRECTS FROM ATLANTA TO ATHENS - FILE - Former Georgia running back and Republican Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker attends a college football game between UAB and Georgia, Sept. 11, 2021, in Athens, Ga. Police in Irving, Texas once confiscated a gun from Walker following a domestic disturbance because the former football legend talked about having “a shoot-out with police.” The revelation was included in a 2001 police report that recently obtained by The Associated Press. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File) The Associated Press, By BRIAN SLODYSKO