Last Blog Before Presentation

Well a year's work comes to an end today. This is my last blog post related to my presentation, for over the weekend I will complete my process paper and on Monday I will present my work. However, I don't view my work as complete. There is so much more that could have gone into it. There is so much that can be done to make the game of football safer, to save lives. Everyday more news comes out about concussions in one form or another. For example, just yesterday a Bleacher Report article was published about some of the comments Patriots Tight End Rob Gronkowski made about concussions while he was on the Jim Rome show. Here's a transcript of what he said:

"Uh, so if we're sitting here and I had choose [sic] would I want a concussion right now or my knee blown out, I'm going to say a concussion. Why would I want to sit there for eight months and not do anything, when with a concussion I'll just wake up and I'll be ready to go again."
Gronk isn't worried about not remembering things later in life because "that happens all the time. I don't even know how I got to my hotel last night."

Sure there is not much information provided in the article but every article matters. Taking bits and pieces from many different articles allows a clearer picture to be shown. In the above article about Gronk, the most important information that should be culled out is that he said "I don't even know how I got to my hotel last night." Sure we all know it may be because he was drunk, for Gronk loves to party. But the context of the situation was centered around concussions, so maybe it is not a stretch to correlate his forgetfulness with the something "that happens all the time."



My thesis project may come to a close on April 6th, 2015, but the passion I have for my topic will never stop. I would like to thank Mr. Correa for all the help he has been of throughout the year. I would like to thank Dr. Kilianski for taking time out his incredibly busy schedule as a neurological resident to be my mentor and Dr. Cook and Dr. Rossetti for taking time out of their schedules to become my judges. I cannot wait to present my findings throughout the year next Monday. I dedicate my project to those affected by CTE and other degenerate brain diseases that have been caused by repetitive head trauma. I dedicate my project to their families. Most importantly, I dedicate my project to Chris Borland, for he has done something nobody in the history of football has ever done and that is walking away from the game of football because of fear of long term effects of concussions on his own accord.