Rob Maaddi, FISM News
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Former NFL star Demaryius Thomas had Stage 2 CTE, according to a study from Boston University doctors who had been studying his brain. Thomas was found dead in his suburban Atlanta home on Dec. 9. He was only 33 years old.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated blows to the head.
Neuropathologist Dr. Ann McKee, a member of the Boston University research team, said Thomas’ cause of death was most likely a cardiac arrest following a seizure.
His family said he had been having seizures for more than a year at the time of his death. They said he also suffered from other common conditions associated with CTE: memory loss, paranoia, and other erratic behavior.
Thomas last played in the NFL in 2019 with the New York Jets. He won a Super Bowl playing with Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.
“CTE itself does not cause death. You don’t die from CTE,” McKee told ABC News. “What CTE does is it changes your behavior and your personality.”
McKee said Thomas “had two different conditions in parallel.” Thomas also had been recently involved in a car accident two years before his death. Doctors initially indicated that Thomas died from a seizure stemming from the car crash. However, the degenerative brain disease contributed to “increasingly erratic” behavior beforehand, per the study.
Thomas’ parents discussed his diagnosis on Good Morning America on Tuesday.
“He was paranoid, like, all the time. But memory loss, I saw that as well,” Bobby Thomas recalled. “Every single day, he complained about … about having a headache.”
His mom, Katina Stuckey Smith, added, “His mood would change, and he would also isolate himself sometimes. (Demaryius) would tell me, he was like, ‘Mom, I don’t know what’s going on with my body. I gotta get myself together.’ And he said, ‘I don’t feel like myself anymore.'”
Thomas’ parents donated his brain for research after his death to get a better understanding of what was happening to their son. McKee, the director of Neuropathology Core at Boston University, said she has diagnosed CTE in 600-700 athletes after death.
“We found what we’ve seen in so many other players under the age of 34,” McKee said of Thomas. “On the basis of multiple lesions in the frontal lobes and temporal lobe are beginning degeneration of deeper areas of the brain. He was diagnosed with CTE. Stage two.”
In 143 career games, Thomas had 724 catches for 9,763 yards and 63 touchdowns. He was a popular teammate known for bringing joy to others around him.
“So many are going to remember him for his athletic ability, but I’ll be remembering him for his kindness, his smile that would light up a room, and the love he had for those in his life,” said Tim Tebow, who played with him in Denver.