CNN News:可怕的CTE

CTE stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It`s a brain disease known to affect athletes and anyone else who`s had repeated hits to the head. CTE can affect someone`s memory, mood or behavior. It can cause depression, and CTE gets worse over time. This disease is only diagnosed after someone dies.

A quote at baseball reference.com says Ryan Freel made it fun to watch if you care about baseball, but hard to watch if you care about him. The outfielder and baseman repeatedly risked his body for the game. A year after his suicide, his family released information that shows he`s the first Major Leaguer diagnosed with CTE. It`s hoped that can help doctors better understand brain injuries.

Ryan Freel played baseball without fear. Diving after balls and crashing into walls. In his eight year Major League Baseball career, Freel estimated that he`d suffered ten concussions, but his family says the real number may be even higher. After Freel took his own life last year, his family gave permission for a team of researchers at Boston University to examine his brain for signs of CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the form of brain damage found in football players like Mike Webster, Dave Duerson, Junior Seau and dozens of others.

On Sunday, Freel`s family announced that Ryan did suffer from CTE, making him the first Major League baseball player to receive that diagnosis, and possibly explaining the years of depression and erratic behavior leading up to this death.

Important cases like Ryan Freel make a difference, because it is showing us that you don`t need to have the kind of hits that we see in football or in hockey or in other real collision sports. You just need a lot of brain trauma, it seems.

And another high profile suicide, one year ago this month, Kansas City Chiefs player Jovan Belcher shot his girlfriend before driving to the team`s practice facility and turning the gun on himself.

Now, the Belcher family tell the Kansas City "Star" that they too, suspect CTE, and on Friday, Belcher`s body was exhumed so his brain could be examined. CTE can only be diagnoses after death by analyzing brain tissue. But experts say examining a brain one year after intermint (ph) may or may not work.

Our brains are really important to us. And we can`t keep hitting them the way that we have been. So, that doesn`t mean stop playing these great sports, it means trying to reduce the amount of head trauma from an early age all through every level of the play.

CTE stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It`s a brain disease known to affect athletes and anyone else who`s had repeated hits to the head. CTE can affect someone`s memory, mood or behavior. It can cause depression, and CTE gets worse over time. This disease is only diagnosed after someone dies.

A quote at baseball reference.com says Ryan Freel made it fun to watch if you care about baseball, but hard to watch if you care about him. The outfielder and baseman repeatedly risked his body for the game. A year after his suicide, his family released information that shows he`s the first Major Leaguer diagnosed with CTE. It`s hoped that can help doctors better understand brain injuries.

Ryan Freel played baseball without fear. Diving after balls and crashing into walls. In his eight year Major League Baseball career, Freel estimated that he`d suffered ten concussions, but his family says the real number may be even higher. After Freel took his own life last year, his family gave permission for a team of researchers at Boston University to examine his brain for signs of CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the form of brain damage found in football players like Mike Webster, Dave Duerson, Junior Seau and dozens of others.

On Sunday, Freel`s family announced that Ryan did suffer from CTE, making him the first Major League baseball player to receive that diagnosis, and possibly explaining the years of depression and erratic behavior leading up to this death.

Important cases like Ryan Freel make a difference, because it is showing us that you don`t need to have the kind of hits that we see in football or in hockey or in other real collision sports. You just need a lot of brain trauma, it seems.

And another high profile suicide, one year ago this month, Kansas City Chiefs player Jovan Belcher shot his girlfriend before driving to the team`s practice facility and turning the gun on himself.

Now, the Belcher family tell the Kansas City "Star" that they too, suspect CTE, and on Friday, Belcher`s body was exhumed so his brain could be examined. CTE can only be diagnoses after death by analyzing brain tissue. But experts say examining a brain one year after intermint (ph) may or may not work.

Our brains are really important to us. And we can`t keep hitting them the way that we have been. So, that doesn`t mean stop playing these great sports, it means trying to reduce the amount of head trauma from an early age all through every level of the play.