Junior Seau had a brain disease known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), FOX News reports Jan. 10. The National Institutes of Health told The Associated Press on Thursday about its findings concerning the NFL player's death. Seau committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest.
The autopsy results showed similar results of people "with exposure to repetitive head injuries."
Seau was a star linebacker for 20 seasons before retiring in 2009. He wasn't alone in having CTE disease. A number of NFL players had the condition due to head trauma.
Seau's 23-year-old son, Tyler, wasn't shocked to learn the news over his father's autopsy report. He's angry that there wasn't more that could have been done for the world class athlete.
Tyler -- and Seau's ex-wife, Gina -- said mood swings, irrationality, forgetfulness, insomnia and depression were all things they noticed in him. The problem was they weren't aware they were actual symptoms of something more serious.
"I don't think any of us were aware of the side effects that could be going on with head trauma until he passed away," Tyler said. "We didn't know his behavior was from head trauma."
Apparently Seau withdrew more and more, his son shared. He would "detach" himself and the depression "progressively got worse."
Those who knew Junior Seau said he hid the disease well in public.
NFL players Dave Duerson and Ray Easterling are among others who were afflicted with CTE.
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