NFL Widows had difficulty taking care of former players with CTE. They say that a new study minimizes their pain – WTOP News

Boston (AP) – Dozens of widows and other care providers for former NFL players with the diagnosis of CTE say that a published study is offensive and rejected for their experience with the Degenerative brain disease that is linked to concussion And other repeated head trauma is common in contact sports such as football.

An open letter signed by the women, brothers and sisters and children of the players, says that the study published in the number of 6 May of Frontiers in Psychology suggests that their struggles for lovers were due to “media hype” on chronic traumatic encephalopathy, instead of the disease itself. The implication that “care provider is” inevitable “is inevitable because of” publicity “is callig, patronizing and offensive,” they said.

“The burden we have experienced did not happen because we are women who cannot distinguish between our lived experience and stories from TV or newspaper reports,” they wrote in the letter. “Our loved ones were giants in life, cte robbed them of their future and robbed us of our future with them.

The pushback was led by Dr. Eleanor Perfetto, himself a medical investigator and the widow of former Steelers and Chargers finished Ralph Wenzel, who developed dementia and paranoia and lost his ability to speak, walk and eat. He was first diagnosed with cognitive disorders in 1999 – six years before the CTE diagnosis of Pittsburgh Center Mike Webster brought the disease to the regular media.

“My own experience, it just gave a name what I saw every day. It didn’t put it in my head,” Perfetto said in an interview with the Associated Press. “It gave it a name. It didn’t change the symptoms.”

The study published last month asked 172 care providers for current and former professional football players “whether they believed that their partner had ‘CTE’.” When he noticed that all respondents were women, Perfetto wondered why their experiences would be minimized.

“Women meet that every day,” she said. “I don’t think that’s the only factor. I think the motivation is to make it look like this is not a real problem. It is not a real disease. It is something that people have led because they heard about it in the media.”

The hope for study ‘changed quickly to disappointment’

The letter was Posted online on Monday Under the headline, “NFL caregivers at Harvard Football Player Health Study: Stop insulting us!” It had more than 30 signatures, including family Van Hall of Famers Nick Buoniconti and Louis Creekmur.

It praises the study of investigating the consequences of lovers who have endured the violent mood swings, dementia and depression that may come to the disease. The letter says that the study is doing wrong by recording what it regards as non-supported speculation, such as: “Despite the fact that they are an autopsy-based diagnosis, mainstream media presentations and controversial cases related to those who have diagnosed with CTE players about CTE.”

The letter said that these are “offensive conclusions that were not supported by research proof.”

“Instead of exploring the lived experiences of partners of former athletes, they implied instead that the fear of the partners was caused by looking at the news … As if the media are blaming for the serious brain atrophy caused by CTE in our beloved,” they wrote.

Study authors Rachel Grashow and Alicia Whittington said in a statement to the AP that is the purpose of their research “is to support NFL families, especially those who take care of the players or mourns for lost loved ones”.

“We regret it if one of our work suggested,” they said. “Our intention was not to minimize CTE – a disease that is far too real – but to point out that increased attention to this condition can intensify existing concerns, and that symptoms attributed to CTE, in some cases, can arise from other treatable conditions that also deserve recognition and care.”

But Perfetto feared that the study was part of a trend to trivialize or even deny the risks of playing football. After years of denials, the NFL recognized in 2016 a connection between football and CTE and ultimately agree with a Settlement of 20,000 retired players That caused a maximum of $ 4 million for those who died with the disease. (Because it requires a study of the brain tissue, CTE can currently only be diagnosed posthumously.)

“Why would a researcher jump into ‘the media’ when he tries to draw conclusions from their data when they did not collect information about the media,” Perfett told the AP. “For me, as a researcher, you get the implications from the results and try to think practically about these conclusions? Why would you find these results?” Well, how handy is it to say that it was the media, and removes the NFL from the hook? “

‘By players, for players’

The caretaker’s study is located under the umbrella of the Football players Health Study at Harvard UniversityA versatile effort “Working on prevention, diagnostics and treatment strategies for the most common and serious circumstances that influence professional football players.” Although it is financed by the NFL Players Association, neither the Union neither have nor the competition have any influence on the results or conclusions, says the website.

“The health study for football players does not receive financing from the NFL and does not share data with the NFL,” said a spokesperson.

Earlier research with a total of more than 4,700 ex-players is on topics, ranging from sleeping problems to arthritis. But much of them has focused on brain injuries and CTE, which is linked to contact sports, military fights and other activities that can retetitive head trauma.

When he died with advanced CTE in 2012 at the age of 69, Wenzel Perfetto was no longer able to recognize and needed help with daily tasks such as dressing or getting out of bed – an extra problem because he was a foot bigger and 100 pounds were heavier than she. “When he died, his brain was atrophied up to 910 grams, about the size of the brain of a 1-year-old child,” the letter said.

Former Auburn and San Diego Chargers ran Lionel “Little Train” back, who set the NFL record for All-Purphtose Yards in 1985, was diagnosed with dementia on 55 and CTE after he died at the age of 59.

“Treatable circumstances were not the reason that Lionel went from a loving husband and father to someone who was so easy to agitated that his wife and children had to stop him regularly to become violent after having avoided objects,” said the letter. “They were probably not the driving force behind his treatment-resistant depression, which contributed to alcoholism, several stays in alcohol rehabilitation treatment centers, arrests, suicide thoughts and ultimately his dedication to a mental institution.”

Kesha James told the AP that she would switch off the car to prevent her husband from drunk. She said that she had never spoken about her struggles, but chose to tell her story now to remove the stigma that is related to the late-in-life behavior of the players and the real struggles of their care providers.

“I have videos that people would probably not believe,” said James. “And I will be honest with you: it is nothing I am proud of. I am ashamed of the past three years. I am now just going to publicly because I want to help make this aware – without disgracing me and my children – but simply increase consciousness so that no other family can experience what I did.”

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Copyright © 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.