A Football Coach Confronts His Son’s C.T.E. Diagnosis

the game of football gave me a degree I met my wife I had a family because of it it was my way out [Music] but I also think that it's important for me to walk the line between being a football coach also being parent to a son diagnosed with CTE does it hurt that I lost my son 100 percent it does but I also will tell you truthfully that the game also gives a lot [Music] he was a sweet kid very kind so piano lessons wrote poetry he was a big smile guy first down first time I saw Mikko in his football uniform I thought he was adorable he was so happy to put the eye black on and the excitement made me happy sleeping in this uniform yeah yeah he loved it [Music] they were all so little I seven and weighed nothing and the hits it almost looked like it they just bounced off each other I recall Miko having a concussion that was Middle School I'm calling it a concussion back then I didn't realize that's what happened but he had a major hit and I guess for me as a parent okay you're okay I hear you talking and you're walking a little wobbly but you're walking so there's no physical injury there were more you know high school and college that we just did not address with we didn't have the knowledge he started talking about um how he was depressed he would tell me he heard voices in one of his teeth he thought there was some sort of Chip planted and people were spying on him it just wasn't him he wasn't himself it felt like he was a prisoner in his own brain like I kept wanting to knock the wall down to say come on out of there man like the old Nico no that's what I wanted police in Maryland say someone shot and killed 25 year old Mikko Loxley around 10 20 Sunday night I remember Mike coming to me in the midst of this pain that we were experiencing after we found out that Mikko was killed and I mean it was within the next day and he said we should have his brain donated so it can be studied for CTE I really wanted to know if the concussions played any part in the connection with his deteriorating mental health and I think back even now [Music] so a little guilt you know the tragedy of mikko's mental health inspired me and he lives on through me because it's a big part of my program it definitely makes me think twice about how we practice how often we are having contact so I think this awareness has made the game safer I'm judged Saturday on winning games and that's how we afford the life we live and so I would want to do whatever's best that gives us and these players the best chance to as I like to say create value for themselves as football players football is a contact sport football could result in concussions football could result in concussions that lead possibly to CTE but if you would have asked me today how I feel like I said I have grandsons now that love football and are playing contact football before high school so I'm walking it very truthfully

Channel: The New York Times

Views: 28,662

Keywords: College football 2023, college football, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, cte, cte symptoms, concussions, college football highlights, University of Maryland college park, umd, Maryland, concussion treatment, post-concussion syndrome, Alabama football news, new york times, nyt

Id: p_hu2YXamTw

Length: 5min 33sec (333 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 28 2023