IPOD
RADIO
The result of the Benoit tests, for those who don't want to read the whole article, is that Benoit had sustained so much head trauma from working the stiff style he was known for that his brain resembled that of an 85-year old Alzheimer's patient. From the article:
[SLI researcher Julian] Bailes and his research team had also analyzed the brains of former NFL players such as Andre Waters and Terry Long, who both committed suicide. Bailes and his colleagues theorize that repeated concussions can lead to dementia, which can contribute to severe behavioral problems.
"There is a constant theme in the failure of their personal lives, their business lives, depression and then ultimately suicide," Bailes said.
...
They found that Benoit's brain showed an advanced form of dementia that appears on the brain scan as brown clumps or tangles. These brown spots are actually dead brain cells, killed off as a result of head trauma, said Bailes.
In Benoit's case, the damage was found in every section of the brain _ all four lobes and deep into the brain stem.
"It was extensive throughout Chris' brain," Bailes said. "This is something you should never see in a 40-year-old."
"We think these changes are not due to steroids," Bailes said. "That has never really been studied, but it's never been in the medical literature or any research that shows steroids do this to the brain. These changes [in the brain] were found in the 1920s before steroids were even invented."
So I guess this falls under the category of "cold comfort." On one level, it's a relief to hear that, judging from the severity of the brain damage, Benoit was about as responsible for his actions as my Alzheimer's-afflicted grandmother was responsible for not being able to remember her children's names. True, my grandmother never strangled anyone to death (that we know of), but then again, my grandmother - though scrappy - was never World Heavyweight Champion material.
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