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Phillip Adams Had Stage 2 CTE When He Killed Six People Then Himself (April 7/21)
ChillyDawg
Member Posts: 1,469
INFO
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Adams_(American_football)
Pro Football Reference https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AdamPh00.htm
NEWS
SI ( June 17 2021) https://www.si.com/nfl/2021/06/17/phillip-adams-a-killers-garden-daily-cover
NY Times (April 9 2021) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/sports/football/phillip-adams-shooting-nfl-player.html
ABC News (April 8 2021) https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/children-killed-south-carolina-shooting-76939610
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWyYd2zlyLU
NBC News: During a press conference, officials announced that former NFL player Phillip Adams had stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, when he allegedly shot six people before taking his own life in South Carolina.
ESPN (click for full article) https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32866344/autopsy-ex-nfl-player-phillip-adams-accused-killing-six-people-shows-unusually-severe-cte-damage
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Adams_(American_football)
Pro Football Reference https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AdamPh00.htm
NEWS
SI ( June 17 2021) https://www.si.com/nfl/2021/06/17/phillip-adams-a-killers-garden-daily-cover
NY Times (April 9 2021) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/sports/football/phillip-adams-shooting-nfl-player.html
ABC News (April 8 2021) https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/children-killed-south-carolina-shooting-76939610
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWyYd2zlyLUNBC News: During a press conference, officials announced that former NFL player Phillip Adams had stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, when he allegedly shot six people before taking his own life in South Carolina.
ESPN (click for full article) https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32866344/autopsy-ex-nfl-player-phillip-adams-accused-killing-six-people-shows-unusually-severe-cte-damage
An autopsy revealed unusually severe brain disease in the frontal lobe of the former NFL player accused of fatally shooting six people in Rock Hill, South Carolina, before killing himself in April, authorities announced Tuesday.
The 20 years that former cornerback Phillip Adams spent playing football "definitely ... gave rise" to a diagnosis of Stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, said Dr. Ann McKee, who examined his brain.
Authorities have said that on April 7, Adams killed Rock Hill physician Robert Lesslie; his wife, Barbara; two of their grandchildren, 9-year-old Adah Lesslie and 5-year-old Noah Lesslie; and two HVAC technicians working at the Lesslie home, James Lewis and Robert Shook, both 38. Police later found Adams with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
The degenerative disease known as CTE is linked to head trauma and concussions that has been shown to cause a range of symptoms, including violent mood swings and memory loss.
"There were inklings that he was developing clear behavioral and cognitive issues,'' McKee said. "I don't think he snapped. It appeared to be a cumulative progressive impairment. He was getting increasingly paranoid, he was having increasing difficulties with his memory, and he was very likely having more and more impulsive behaviors. ... It may not have been recognized, but I doubt that this was entirely out of the blue.''
McKee, who directs the CTE Center at Boston University, said that of 24 NFL players diagnosed with the disease after dying in their 20s and 30s, most had Stage 2, like Adams. The disease has four stages, with Stage 4 being the most severe and usually associated with dementia.
The second stage is associated with progressive cognitive and behavioral abnormalities such as aggression, impulsivity, explosivity, depression, paranoia, anxiety, poor executive function and memory loss, McKee said.
But Adams' CTE diagnosis was different from the other young players because it was "unusually severe" in both frontal lobes, she said.
The 20 years that former cornerback Phillip Adams spent playing football "definitely ... gave rise" to a diagnosis of Stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, said Dr. Ann McKee, who examined his brain.
Authorities have said that on April 7, Adams killed Rock Hill physician Robert Lesslie; his wife, Barbara; two of their grandchildren, 9-year-old Adah Lesslie and 5-year-old Noah Lesslie; and two HVAC technicians working at the Lesslie home, James Lewis and Robert Shook, both 38. Police later found Adams with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
The degenerative disease known as CTE is linked to head trauma and concussions that has been shown to cause a range of symptoms, including violent mood swings and memory loss.
"There were inklings that he was developing clear behavioral and cognitive issues,'' McKee said. "I don't think he snapped. It appeared to be a cumulative progressive impairment. He was getting increasingly paranoid, he was having increasing difficulties with his memory, and he was very likely having more and more impulsive behaviors. ... It may not have been recognized, but I doubt that this was entirely out of the blue.''
McKee, who directs the CTE Center at Boston University, said that of 24 NFL players diagnosed with the disease after dying in their 20s and 30s, most had Stage 2, like Adams. The disease has four stages, with Stage 4 being the most severe and usually associated with dementia.
The second stage is associated with progressive cognitive and behavioral abnormalities such as aggression, impulsivity, explosivity, depression, paranoia, anxiety, poor executive function and memory loss, McKee said.
But Adams' CTE diagnosis was different from the other young players because it was "unusually severe" in both frontal lobes, she said.
Comments
Former Chargers and Buccaneers wide receiver Vincent Jackson, who was found dead earlier this year in a Florida hotel room, has been diagnosed with Stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the Concussion Legacy Foundation announced Thursday.
Jackson, who spent seven seasons playing for the Chargers and five for the Buccaneers, was found dead in a Brandon, Florida, hotel room in February after his family reported him missing. He had been staying at the hotel for a month. He was 38 years old.
"Vincent dedicated so much of his life to helping others. Even in his passing, I know he would want to continue that same legacy," Jackson's widow, Lindsey Jackson, said in a statement.
"By donating his brain to the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, we hope to continue to see advancements in CTE research, enabling physicians to diagnose the disease in the living and ultimately find treatment options in the future. There is still a lot to be understood about CTE, and education is the key to prevention. The conversation around this topic needs to be more prevalent, and our family hopes that others will feel comfortable and supported when talking about CTE moving forward."
CTE is a condition of brain degeneration caused from repetitive blows to the head. It affects mood, thinking and behavior, and symptoms may not appear for years. It is marked by widespread accumulation of a protein called tau. It cannot be diagnosed in the living, nor can it be found in a traditional autopsy.
"Vincent Jackson was a brilliant, disciplined, gentle giant whose life began to change in his mid-30s. He became depressed, with progressive memory loss, problem solving difficulties, paranoia, and eventually extreme social isolation," Dr. Ann McKee, chief of neuropathology for the VA Boston Healthcare System and director of the BU CTE Center and VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, said in a statement.