Doctors say late BMX legend Dave Mirra had CTE
Source: ESPN
Alyssa Roenigk
ESPN The Magazine senior writer
8:55 a.m.
BMX icon Dave Mirra, who died in February, suffered from the type of chronic brain damage that has shown up in the brains of dozens of football players, a University of Toronto neuropathologist has concluded. Multiple neuropathologists confirmed the diagnosis.
Mirra is the first action sports athlete to be diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease that can lead to dementia, memory loss and depression. He died on Feb. 4 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The tau protein deposits found in Mirra's brain were indistinguishable from the kind that have been found in the brains of former football and hockey players with CTE, Dr. Lili-Naz Hazrati, the Toronto neuropathologist, told ESPN The Magazine. ... "I couldn't tell the difference," she said. "The trauma itself defines the disease, not how you got the trauma." ... The trademark tau protein deposits were found in the frontal and temporal lobes of Mirra's brain. ... "It's assumed it is related to multiple concussions that happened years before," she said.
Mirra, who was 41, suffered a fractured skull when a car hit him at age 19, and he dabbled in boxing after his retirement from BMX. But he also endured countless concussions during his BMX career, beginning at a young age.
Read more: http://espn.go.com/action/story/_/id/15614274/bmx-legend-dave-mirra-diagnosed-cte
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Previously at DU:
X Games icon Dave Mirra, 41, dead of apparent self-inflicted gunshot
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