While studying the diseases Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis also known as “ALS” and other disease that affects the brain such as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy also known as “CTE” my group discovered that both of these harmful head injuries have killed hundreds of athletes throughout sports and even just a simple fall or slip hitting the head that was not sports related but that’s not all our group researched, my colleagues have also researched and found about theses harmful head injuries and the statistics have also ome to show that these head injuries are not always spotted when the incident occurs, and that it is discovered at a later time.
For instance the people who interact with the athlete will be the first to start noticing changes in his or hers behavior or personality changes. Yet by that time the damage has been done by either one of these traumatic injuries and if not treated the disease will rage on to affect the nervous system and more. Now once that happens the road to a hard and stressful life will begin.
One of the main diseases that is part to blame for this is Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Many people know this disease by ALS that affects the cells in the brain and the spinal cord and then eventually causing the person to lose function throughout the whole body. The diseases is not yet curable but it is treatable and ways to still live a somewhat normal life. Typically people aren’t diagnosed with ALS until the ages of 30 and 35 but if you were or are currently participating any sports the age that athletes are diagnosed with ALS is 27-30.
Now you don’t have to be an athlete to get ALS, you can inherit it through genetics but the farthest it can be inherited by is 2nd generation. ALS is more than just lost brain and body function it is also a heredodegenerative disease that affects the brain and studies have shown that flawed genes and mutations cause ALS in young people and also the the saying that men receive concussions or cases of ALS is false it is the other way around and that women are more susceptible to ALS, concussions because their necks aren’t as strong as ours or that don’t have as much “girth” as men do.
Concussions don’t always lead to ALS sometime you can get Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy also known as CTE. CTE is a brain trauma basicly that leads up to ALS but the thing with CTE is a progressive degenerative disease that is found in mostly athletes and slowly shuts down parts of the brain. Typically people and athletes can be diagnosed around the same time as ALS or even later when the damage has been done and is noticed by a friend or family member.
Just know that relatively the only way you can get CTE is by repetitive brain collisions or trauma including symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic subconcussive hits to the head or spinal cord. The history of CTE goes as far back as 1920 when it commonly found in boxers then as years went by it was moving into the sport of football where it was mandatory to tackle or hit, or even push.
The sports football and boxing were the two sports that athletes were receiving concussions and neck injuries almost every day and not even knowing because it was thought to be a minor headache that would pass unfortunately it wasn’t it would end up evolving into a disease that generations have been working hard to find a cure but sadly have not but doctors and researchers have found ways to to not delay or deal with it but kind of live life a different way by documenting their life before the symptom of memory loss gets to the point that they cannot remember who the family or friends are.
A large amount of the athletes getting these diseases at a young age because in the past hre or she has had a head or neck injury that still might be affecting them today. Another reason that no athletes might contract the disease is because they participate in a physical sport such as softball, baseball, football, wrestling or even basketball. These sports are some of the ways a child could be diagnosed CTE or ALS at such a young age. The data and statistics have changed over many years stating that the youngest age you can be diagnosed with the diseases is at the age of 30 but now the youngest is 27 years old.
An example of the dangers of CTE and ALS is John Doe (the family has asked to keep his identity private) was a multi-sport athlete who suffered multiple concussions in high school football and unfortunately passed away on the field of a friday night game at the age of 18. After his unfortunate death his brain scan showed that he was suffering from minor signs of CTE and the that he was probably dealing with the CTE for a couple of weeks another example is a former quarterback of the Oakland Raiders and also part of the 2015 Hall of Fame class.
Ken Stabler played college football at the University of Alabama. Ken Stabler was diagnosed with CTE five years after his retirement. Ken stabler past away last year on July 8. Concussions and Head trauma are also some very dangerous injuries that can affect a person in so many different ways. Receiving one of these two is usually self diagnosable and lab test are not usually required because the injury is very noticeable and is treatable by a medical profession. Some people think that a concussion is a like going brain dead but it isn’t it just a mild brain injury.
Also that some professors believe that is just a person temporarily losing function to their brain for a slight second. A traumatic brain injury somewhat the same but classified higher than a concussion which means it has to be deadlier but isn’t. Quite frankly it is just little bit more on the emotional side of symptoms like random outburst of anger or crying. For the professional athletes that play in the NFL or MLB or even UFC and any other noncontact sports their leagues are trying to the beat of their ability to help out in way possible to help the athlete when they are playing after that.
I have discovered though that their was one player that didn’t receive any sort of help for the league but the pro team know as the New Orleans Saints had helped out in many different ways to make Steve Gleason’s life better after being diagnosed with ALS at the age of 34 when his wife was expecting their first child. I have researched many athletes and found that none of the league’s they played for have tried to assist them in anyway. Even after the former athletes have put in an average of ten or more years in the sport with one or numerous teams.
I believe that this is another that can be done to help the hundreds of athletes or people that are suffering. One way the league’s can help is buy reaching out to the families and helping out with medical bills or even helping out with other personal requirements. I also believe that the league’s can try to help out the athletes on how they spend their money and not blowing their whole check. This will help in many different ways to support the families if any permanent injuries happen to the athlete.
Overall I have come to find out that we have a very serious disease that’s hurting a lot of people. Not only that but this needs to get more attention because it is evolving every year with symptoms that are getting harder and harder to treat and our doctor’s cannot keep up with it. What does this well it means that we need to come together and help these athletes or just regular people that have had an injury to get the disease get through the tough time that they have waiting for them and just try to make their last few months the best because it’s the right thing to do.
