NFL news: Possible reason behind Penn’s Owen Thomas’ death
Penn football player Owen Thomas who committed suicide on 27 April 2010 was suffering from the disease which is caused by hard hits that is usually common with NFL players. This dependable and reliable information is recently received after a detailed examination
of Thomas’ brain.
This was first reported on Monday by New York Times that Owen Thomas was in the early stages of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, a disease which is caused by the depression and stress, generally observed in players. The attractive and handsome former
Penn captain, Thomas was found dead at his apartment. Unfortunately the professional football player hanged himself.
The examination was done by the scientists of Boston University, which have done much of the work on the impact of big hits on football players that has gained attention in recent years. Dr. Robert Stern, who is the Chief Director of the Boston University
group, delivered the research to The Association Press with his comments. Dr. Daniel Perl, the professor of pathology department at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, examined the slides of 21-year-old Thomas brain’s tissues and autonomously
confirmed the diagnosis."It's not unreasonable that aspects of his behaviour were related to the underlying brain disease that was detected," Daniel Perl said to the press. "This is real."
Katherine Brearley, mother of Owen Thomas told the press that she doesn’t know the extent to which brain trauma caused him to commit suicide and scientists cautioned against overstating the connection. I can only say for myself that Owen was a very unlikely
person, in his normal state of mind, to commit suicide," she said in a telephonic interview.
Owen Thomas didn’t have any history of stress and depression. There were no significant factors found, which forced him to commit suicide. More tellingly his mother stated that Thomas started playing football at the age of 9 and never showed any symptoms
of such a dangerous disease.
"The evidence coming in from Owen - and it will have to be confirmed from much further study - is that this [injury] is not just a question of a person getting big hits and then ignoring them," Brearley told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "This is a person getting
many little hits, starting from a young age. Football linebackers might get 1,000 little hits. Now we're thinking these are like teaspoons. A thousand teaspoons of water could be the same as a big jug. It's possible."
Thomas was 6 feet tall and weighed 250 pounds. He was nominated as one of the Quakers’ captains for this season. He was the second team All Ivy player in 2009, starting all Penn games, made a remarkable record of 29 tackles and finished second in the league
with six sacks.
At Penn’s recent media day, his companions placed his No. 40 jersey in the team photo in the spot where Thomas would have been seated between captains Keiffer Garton, Bradford Blackmon and Joe D’Orazio. His companions took their photos with his jersey as
well. Owen Thomas of Allentown will be honoured by Penn in a ceremony on Saturday night. Penn’s death stunned his family, friends, relatives and team companions. He is the second Penn football player to commit suicide since 2005.
"While we will never know the cause of Owen Thomas' depression and subsequent suicide, we are aware of and deeply concerned about the medical issues now being raised about football head injuries and will continue to work with the Ivy League and the medical
community in addressing these issues," Penn spokeswoman Lori Doyle said Monday night. "Owen's untimely death was a terrible tragedy and we continue to grieve for his loss.”
Despite of recent medical report, Owen Thomas’ death is still a question for many people including his mother. His fans and family are still waiting for the suitable answer that why he committed suicide.
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