THE DR. VIBE SHOW - CYNDY FEASEL - YOU ME AND CTE - AFTER THE CHEERING STOPS - MAY 28 - 2018

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease found in people who have had multiple head injuries. Symptoms may include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. This typically does not begin until years after the injuries. It often gets worse over time and can result in dementia. It is unclear if the risk of suicide is altered.

Most documented cases have occurred in athletes involved in contact sports such as American football, wrestling, boxing, ice hockey, rugby and soccer. Other risk factors include being in the military, prior domestic violence, and repeated banging of the head.The exact amount of trauma required for the condition to occur is unknown. Definitive diagnosis can only occur at autopsy. It is a form of tauopathy.

As of 2018, there is no specific treatment. Rates of disease have been found to be about 30% among those with a history of multiple head injuries. Population rates, however, are unclear. Research into brain damage as a result of repeated head injuries began in the 1920s, at which time the condition was known as dementia pugilistica or “punch drunk syndrome”. Changing the rules in some sports has been discussed as a means of prevention.

Over the next few Mondays live at 9 p.m. Eastern at , The Dr. Vibe Show™ and The Good Men Project will hosting You, me & CTE. You, me & CTE is a series of conversations on and about Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Cyndy Feasel, the author of After the Cheering Stops, is an elementary school art teacher in Mesquite, Texas. She grew up in the Dallas suburb of Garland and attended Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, where she met Grant Feasel, a center on the Abilene Wildcats football team.

After graduation, she became a primary school teacher and married Grant, who was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1983. For the next ten years, Grant played in the NFL although he lost two seasons to knee injuries. In total, Grant played 117 games and was a three-year starter for the Seattle Seahawks.

Following Grant’s retirement, the family moved back to the Dallas area, where Grant and Cyndy raised three children: Sean, Sarah, and Spencer.

Grant started drinking to dull the pain that began in a brain muddled by a history of repetitive trauma and symptomatic concussions. Neither of them knew at the time that he was slowly drinking himself to death—a lingering process that took nearly twenty years. There was collateral damage: their marriage was destroyed, their three children were greatly impacted, and Cyndy was left financially reeling. All because her husband played a violent game that entertained tens of millions of football fans every Sunday.

Since Grant’s death in 2012 at the age of 52, Cyndy has been sharing her story as a precautionary tale of what can happen when loved ones play a sport with inherit risks that wreak tremendous physical damage.

Cyndy makes her home in the Dallas area. Her website is www.cyndyfeasel.com.

During our conversation, Ms. Feasel talked about:

– Life growing up in Texas including how her and Grant met and it was love at first site
– how Grant got involved in professional football even though it was his first choice
– That they were uneducated about concussions during Grant’s career and his experiences with head injuries
– Grant getting hooked on opiates which led to his starting to drink alcohol
– Grant becoming unmanageable at the end of his life due to CTE
– The story behind the book
– Her campaign about prevent young people playing football
– How some parents are preventing there kids from playing football
– Her concerns on how the NFL is dealing with players getting head injuries
– What changes would she like to see when it comes to football and CTE
– Here call to action for young kids, the NCAA, the NFL and parents

You can find our more about Ms. Feasel via:

Website
After The Cheering Stops – Amazon
Twitter

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God bless, peace, be well and keep the faith,

Dr. Vibe