A former NFL player had Stage 2 CTE when he died suddenly six months after retiring. | Unsplash/Riley McCullough
A former NFL player had Stage 2 CTE when he died suddenly six months after retiring. | Unsplash/Riley McCullough
Demaryius Thomas, a Georgia Tech football star who went on to play in the NFL had Stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) when he died suddenly in December 2021, Fox 5 reported.
It's not been confirmed if CTE had a role in the late NFL star's death, the station said.
"He had two different conditions in parallel," Dr. Ann McKee, a Boston University neuropathologist, told The New York Times, Fox 5 reported.
CTE is a "progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma (often athletes)," according to the the Boston University CTE Center.
Thomas' family donated his brain to the CTE center where researchers said they noticed signs of the disease in Thomas' brain.
"We thank the family of Demaryius Thomas for their bravery and willingness to share their story during this difficult time," the center said on Twitter.
Thomas played 10 years in the NFL as a wide receiver, nine of them with the Denver Broncos, the center said.
He died at age 33 six months after retiring.
While in his 20s, Thomas suffered from headaches and vision issues, the center said. In his thirties, he had depression, anxiety, apathy and memory lapses, according to the center.
Researchers have examined brains of more than 1,200 brains of former football players, Fox 5 said. According to a 2017 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, CTE was found in 99% of NFL players, 91% of college football players and 21% of high school football players, the station said.
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