What is CTE and who suffers from it? What to know about TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury).
A former Nashville Predators captain is said to have had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) when he died at age 48. Greg Johnson, who played seven seasons with the Predators (1998-2006), died from suicide at his home in Detroit on July 7, 2019.
Johnson’s brain was analyzed by Dr. Ann McKee of the Boston University CTE Center, who diagnosed Johnson with CTE. According to the Concussion Legacy Foundation, CTE is a degenerative brain disease found in athletes, military veterans, and others with a history of repetitive brain trauma.
“We never once thought this disease was something he struggled with,” Johnson’s widow, Kristin Johnson, said in a news release Tuesday. “He experienced very few symptoms that we knew of, but he spoke of his concussions often.”
As previously reported by the Tennessean, Johnson is the second known Predators forward to be diagnosed with CTE. Forward Wade Belak, who played three seasons in Nashville (2008-11), was found dead on Aug. 31, 2011 and later diagnosed with CTE.
According to the Concussion Legacy Foundation, a study in 2019 found that a diagnosed concussion doubles the risk of suicide. Here is what else to know about CTE.
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