I just finished watching NightLine on ABC. The show talked about the Chris Benoit tragedy, specifically the study that the Sports Legacy Institute recently completed about how concussions may have caused brain damage. Former WWE Superstar Chris Nowinski, who retired from wrestling due to concussions, convinced Michael Benoit to donate a portion of Chris’ brain for study. The neuropathological tests demonstrated that Chris Benoit suffered from a type of brain damage called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which was found in all regions of his brain. And the WWE is writing it all off as speculation and Michael Benoit trying to prove to himself that his son wasn’t a monster.
The Sports Legacy Institute (SLI), which oversaw and coordinated the testing, is an independent medical research organization dedicated to studying the long-term effects of head injuries in sports. SLI President Christopher Nowinski contacted Michael Benoit on June 28th, the Thursday after his son’s death, to obtain permission to study the wrestler’s brain. SLI’s research has indicated there is a connection between the repeated head injuries suffered by many athletes involved in contact sports and an aggregation of abnormal Tau proteins in the brain, causing CTE. CTE’s most common symptoms include depression, cognitive impairment, dementia, Parkinsonism and erratic behavior. Experts believe that CTE may have been a cause or contributing factor in the Benoit tragedy.
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