Concussions: Living with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)

Being a star athlete is every kid’s dream, and for Nate Lewis that dream became a reality. Nate’s passion for football started when he was just 10 years old. He loved the game and was driven to make it to the top. A combination of talent and grit led Nate to be recruited by the University of Georgia during his senior year of high school and he was later drafted by the National Football League (NFL).

For six years, Nate played professionally for the San Diego Chargers and the Chicago Bears. He was living out his childhood dream — powerful, respected and successful in his career. Unfortunately, the dream of being a famous football player often leaves out bits of reality — like the beating a player’s body takes on the field. Nate got his first concussion as a young teen, and several more followed throughout his football career. He can’t remember exactly how many concussions he’s endured, but he estimates 20 or more.

Nate was a powerhouse on the field, playing through the pain and confusion of concussions with nothing more than a short break to ice his head and neck. But after playing in the NFL for six years, his coaches said that his body was beat up and that he just had too many injuries.

After leaving his football career, Nate met his wife, Sherry. Seven years into their relationship, Sherry says that Nate changed — he became enraged, confused and argumentative. Sherry explains that there was a look in his eye that didn’t feel the same. “He wasn’t there anymore. He kind of locked down and wouldn’t let me in. The person that I fell in love with and the person that loved me wasn’t the same person.”

Looking back now, Nate acknowledges that he felt very angry. He was frustrated that he couldn’t remember things and he didn’t want his wife to think he was dumb. He and Sherry were on the brink of divorce, and Nate was contemplating taking his own life.

Tragedy Brings Enlightenment

Nate remembers the day he heard that his friend and former teammate, Junior Seau, died by suicide. As the stories came out, Nate began to recognize the narrative — Junior had been experiencing many of the same feelings and emotions as Nate was battling. An autopsy on his friend’s brain showed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — a progressive brain disease found in people who have sustained repetitive brain trauma, such as concussions.

Finding Help and Hope

Now that Nate knew what was likely causing his rage, confusion and depression, he decided to look for help. He turned to Anthony Stringer, PhD, a neuropsychologist at the Emory Brain Health Center in Atlanta, GA.

Nate was given medicine to address his headaches, depression, anger and difficulty maintaining focus. Dr. Stringer also offered a specialized rehabilitation program, called ecologically-related neurorehabilitation, to help improve Nate’s reasoning and problem-solving abilities.

Dr. Stringer’s Brain Injury Rehabilitation Method

Ecologically-related neurorehabilitation isn’t new; in fact, Dr. Stringer used it 20 years ago with patients who suffered brain injuries during car accidents. Dr. Stringer says that the nervous system has a great ability to heal itself and that rehab can help facilitate that recovery. His goal is to help the healthy parts of the brain ‘pick up the slack’ for the parts that are not functioning as they should.

Dr. Stringer aims to help patients learn how to make the best use of their preserved cognitive skills. He develops strategies that help patients like Nate to deal with reasoning, problem-solving and attention deficiencies — and research is showing some remarkable outcomes.