Missouri high school football player’s family opens up about CTE in young athletes

By Angie Ricono

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KCTV) — Wyatt Bramwell was a football star. He started in kindergarten with flag football and played tackle by the third grade. His dad helped coach for a few years. His mom, a nurse, would watch from the sidelines.

“I was always more worried about he was going to get tackled wrong and get paralyzed. Honestly, that was my biggest fear, is that, that he was going to have some, some spinal issue. Never, never his head,” said Christie Bramwell.

Wyatt played varsity all four years for Pleasant Hill High School and had his eye on the University of Missouri. His family was aware of CTE and understood the closer you play to the ball, the more hits you take. So, Wyatt became a receiver.

“We’re going to become a skills player. We’re going to become a hands guy. We’re going to become a finesse. Didn’t make a difference. Still ends up positive CTE. Still ends up with a tragedy,” said Bill Bramwell.

CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, is a degenerative brain disease found in several former professional football players. It is caused by repetitive head injuries.

Wyatt’s parents described a 60-day spiral before his death. He was angry and impulsive. He even left home.

“It was, it was night and day. It was like, what, what? In fact, I remember us looking at each other like, what, what just happened?” said Christie Bramwell.

In a video, Wyatt discussed “the demons” he was dealing with inside his head.

Wyatt died by suicide when he was 18 years old.

“He shot himself in the chest. We believe that that was probably him preserving his brain for an accurate autopsy,” said Bill Bramwell.

The Bramwells honored Wyatt’s request and donated his brain to Boston University’s CTE Center. They learned Wyatt had stage 2 CTE.

There are four stages of CTE. In Stage 2, patients like Wyatt often have headaches, concentration problems, depression, short-term memory loss and explosive moods.

Bill Bramwell believes Wyatt suspected he suffered from CTE. Wyatt’s Google history revealed he had been searching for information about CTE.

Wyatt’s CTE diagnosis is part of a study by Boston University of 152 contact sports athletes who died younger than 30.

Sixty-three of them, or 41.4%, had CTE.

The report revealed:

“Young contact sport athletes may be at risk for long-term neuropathologic disorders, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).”

More than 70 percent of the athletes were amateur athletes who played sports like football, ice hockey, soccer, rugby and wrestling.

Wyatt never even played college football.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t seem to be about the number of diagnosed concussions, although that’s certainly important. It seems to be more about how many times they’re just hitting their head repetitively,” said University of Kansas sports neurologist Dr. Michael Rippee.

Rippee runs the Center for Concussion Management and works the sidelines for the University of Kansas Football team, keeping a close eye on players for concussions. He never treated Wyatt Bramwell.

His take is that more study is clearly needed, and sports like youth football can adjust in the meantime.

“I think one of the discussions is do we change play US Soccer has already said we’re taking heading out of the game until they’re age 14. There’s been a push for you know do we say no tackling and football till a certain age?” said Dr. Rippee.

Wyatt leaves behind parents who don’t vilify football but hope his struggle and diagnosis with CTE can be helpful to other families.

They point out football was such an important part of Wyatt’s life and happiness. It’s where he made friends and learned grit. They encourage youth leagues to consider safer practices and perhaps tackling at later ages.

They are devastated by his loss and a disease that robbed Wyatt of hope.

“It angers me because I wasn’t given the opportunity to help him,” said Christie.

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