Yesterday Fox Sports posted a related article – 35 ex-NFL players qualify for assistance – about this topic. The article talks about the number of retired NFL players applying for financial assistance under a new program, the ‘88′ plan, designed to help those with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

This plan, which took effect Feb 1, provides up to $88,000 from the National Football League and the union to help with the care of any retired footballer suffering from dementia or other brain related problems.

See full article here…

Post from: Blisstree

Ex-NFL players suffering from Alzheimer’s qualify for assistance.

‘In January, a neuropathologist who examined the brain of Andre Waters, the former Philadelphia Eagles player who committed suicide last fall at 44, said that repeated concussions had led to Mr Waters’s brain tissue resembling that of an 80-year-old with Alzheimer’s disease. And last month, the doctors of the former New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson, 34, said he was exhibiting the depression and memory lapses associated with oncoming Alzheimer’s.’

Other articles along the same lines include:

John Mackey: From NFL To Dementia

Not much headway

Dark Days Follow Hard-Hitting Career in NFL

A tormented soul

A study conducted by The Center for Retired Athletes of over 2500 retired professional football players (average age 54) showed ‘that retired players with three or more concussions, compared with those with no concussions, were five times as likely to have significant memory problems.’

The message may be getting through as the NFL is now planning on screening it’s athletes for susceptibility to concussions.

Post from: Blisstree

The NFL, concussions, and Alzheimer’s disease.