A Look into CTE After the Passing of Former Charger Billy Ray Smith

Former Chargers player, Billy Ray Smith, recently passed away from complications from dementia, caused by CTE. Veronica Carter and Bret Burkhart spoke with forensic pathologist and neuropathologist, Dr. Bennet Omalu, who was the first to discover and publish findings on CTE in football players.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Since news broke about the passing of former San Diego
charger Billy Ray Smith, there have been questions about his
cause of death, which the family says was from complications
from dementia, and they claim it was caused by CTE.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Doctor Bennett Almlu forensic pathologist joins us now on the
Coco News liveline.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Good morning, Good morning, how are you? Thank you so
much for having me.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, you have looked at trauma with football players for
a long time. Can you explain how this brain trauma
impacts athletes and how that disease actually develops.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Well, I must emphasize this is not just about football players.
It involves all types of human activities whereby the head
is exposed to blomfors impact bloomface trauma. So when your
head is the exposed to repeat a bloomfast trauma like

(00:58):
blues to the head or without a helmet, it causes
brain damage over time. The human brain is a sixty
to eighty percent water. It does not have any reasonable
capacity to regenerate itself, and it floats freely inside this call.
It's not attached to this call. So whenever you have

(01:22):
an impact with or without a helmet on your head,
Your brain bounces around inside your skull and over time
there is irreversible brain damage and it increases your risk
of suffering all types of dementias, including CTE, all types
of strokes, and also the so called early onset dementia

(01:45):
before the age of sixty.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, I used to love roller coasters and now I
can't stand them because it bangs my head around, and
I'm wondering if if that could even be a cause
of CTE.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yes Box saying wrestling, makes martial arts, rugby, Australian football,
any activity whereby they had it is part of the game.
We don't have any care for it, and that is
why my position has always been that children should not play.

(02:24):
Many people don't like me for saying that, but knowing
what we know today, there is no reasonable justification for
any child younger than the age of eighteen to engage
in high impact contact football. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
You know, I used to think that watching my nephew
play football, that not only was he being beaten to
smitherings during you know, the games and practices, also the
heat that they're playing in. A lot of things going on.
We're talking to forensic pathologist doctor Bennett Omalu now let's
talk a little bit about the player that we just lost,

(03:03):
former San Diego charger Billy Ray Smith. He was one
of the first players to pledge his brain to the
Concussion in CTA Foundation. What are they going to look for.

Speaker 3 (03:12):
It's always good to carry out research so that your
advance or science. They want to establish the biology of
the disease, and I am aware some other groups are
also looking at possible treatment to slow down the degeneration
of the brain. So when they examine the brain, just

(03:34):
like guenior cell, if you remember, I came down to
San Diego to actually assist in their popsy of guenior cell,
there would look to stage the disease to better understand
the disease. Because even as we speak today, there is
no care for Alzheimer's disease, there is no care for strokes,

(03:54):
there is no care for Parkinson's disease. So we are
working so our doctors all over the world to advance
the functions of science and if possible, with the assistance
of artificial intelligence, finally develop big cure for these terrible disease.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
But as we speak today, the best cure is prevention.
Do not engage in activities whereby there is repeated exposures
to impacts to the head. Parents who smack their kids
on the head need to stop that. I'm aware of
people who doing sexual activity hit each other on their heads.

(04:32):
They need to stop that. There is this new game
called slaps or whatever where people intentionally slap theirselves themselves
on their head. They needs to stop stop that. Games
like mixed martial arts, there is no reason why children
should engage in such violent, high impact compact sports boxing.
There is no reason why a child under the age

(04:54):
of eighteen should engage in boxing. It just does not
make sense knowing what we know today.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
Wow wow, doctor, thank you so much for joining us
on San Diego's Morning News.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
Thank you so much. Bless you guys, bless.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Bless you too. Doctor Bennett omlu is a forensic pathologist
and neuropathologist who was the first to discover and publish
findings on chronic traumatic encephalopathy in football players.