I welcome all NFL caregivers who resonate with the message below to sign the petition to let the Harvard Football Player Health Study researchers know how insulting their recent paper is.

As widows of and caregivers to former NFL players, we read with enthusiasm the recent paper from the Harvard Football Player Health Study, “Contributors to caregiver burden, depression, and anxiety in the partners of professional American-style football players.” Too often, the challenges of providing care to individuals who are experiencing the accumulated effects of repeated injuries after a career in football are overlooked. Examining the lived experiences of partners/caregivers provides a unique perspective into the consequences of a life in football. However, our enthusiasm quickly turned to disappointment when we reached the authors’ insulting conclusions that were not backed by study evidence. 

In the paper, the Harvard authors report that partners of NFL players with poorer health were more likely to exhibit indicators of depression and anxiety. This finding aligns with our experiences caring for our loved ones. The authors also reported an association between caregivers thinking their loved one has chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease found in at least 10% of former NFL players (Binney, Bachynski 2019), and significantly higher indicators of caregiver burden and anxiety. This also very much aligns with our experiences. These findings directly highlight the importance of ensuring that caregivers have the knowledge and resources needed to support their loved ones.  

However, we were incredibly disappointed by the authors unfounded interpretation of their findings, which included speculating about factors they did not measure. Rather than exploring the lived experiences of partners of former athletes, they instead implied the partners’ anxiety was caused by watching the news. They summarize them as simply “CTE concerns,” stating, “among prior [American-style football (ASF)] players, CTE concern is likely inevitable due to the highly publicized link between ASF participation and subsequent brain disease.” 

This interpretation, that caregiver concerns are “inevitable” due to “publicity” is callous, patronizing, and offensive. News reports were not the reason that one player, Ralph Wenzel (husband of EMP), who died in 2012 from stage 4 CTE at age 69 years, was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment in 1999, eight years before CTE was first publicized in the mainstream media. Publicity did not cause his dementia, hallucinations, or paranoia, or loss of ability to speak, walk, or eat. When he died, his brain had atrophied to 910 grams, about the size of the brain of a 1-year-old child. Caring for our loved ones, who suffered from the very real effects of this neurodegenerative disease, certainly led to substantial caregiver burden, depression, and anxiety.  

We believe a clearer and more plausible explanation, rather than that of “misattribution of symptoms” by partners, is found in our shared experience. When reading about CTE for the first time, the immediate thought that came to our minds was, “Oh my God – this is what I see every day. This is my life.” Reading about CTE in the media did not cause us to look for CTE; CTE was in front of us every day. The media “publicity” didn’t give our husbands a disease, it simply gave a name to what was in plain view.  

I also question the label “CTE concerns” for spouses. It is well known that we brain  bank donors reflect a selection bias; spouses who believe their loved one has CTE are more likely to donate the brain of their loved one to a CTE brain bank. If we assume that every NFL spouse donated their loved one’s brain to the  UNITE Brain Bank at Boston University because of “CTE concerns,” it would mean that 341 of 376 (91.7%) were correct. .It would mean that NFL partners, like the ones surveyed, are incredibly accurate when concerned about CTE. From our experience, we would say it is because of what the partners experienced, not because of media hype. 

Yet, the authors only passingly acknowledge that these neurodegenerative effects might be the reason for the toll on caregivers. Even though the paper’s title indicates it is focused on “contributors to,” they instead focus on extrapolating their findings to effects of publicity, as if the media is to blame for the severe brain atrophy caused by CTE in our loved ones. It does not appear the authors even asked participants to report on their exposure to publicity about CTE. Yet, they dedicate sizable and precious publication wordcount to an association they did not even measure. 

We note that the authors did not cite the many studies that show NFL players die with dementia at much higher rates than their US general population counterparts (Lehman et al, 2012), including their own study! (Nguyen et al., 2019) They also seem to have ignored the many studies demonstrating that CTE pathology in NFL players is directly associated with cognitive dysfunction and dementia (Alosco et al., 2024; Saltiel et al., 2024; Jung et al., 2024; Ly et al 2025). 

The authors appropriately note that “ASF players and their partners may experience concerns about CTE due to cognitive symptoms not attributed to other health conditions.” Treating preventable causes of impairment is critically important, and its importance certainly should not be minimized. But sleep apnea and pain were not the reason that one player, Lionel James (husband of Kesha James), was diagnosed with dementia at 55 and died at 59 with stage 3 CTE. Treatable conditions were not the reason Lionel went from being a loving husband and father to someone so easily agitated that his wife and children had to regularly restrain him from becoming violent after dodging thrown objects. They were not likely to be the driving force behind his treatment-resistant depression, which contributed to alcoholism, multiple stays in alcohol rehabilitation treatment centers, arrests, suicidal ideation, and ultimately, his commitment to a mental institution.

Unfortunately, this experience is not unique among this group of widows; but in many cases, those experiences have never been shared outside of the family. 

The authors cite multiple media reports when describing their conjecture that mass hysteria is responsible for the association they found between “CTE concerns” and caregiver burden and anxiety. However, the authors do not seem to have read or internalized the media reports, in which caregivers have courageously described, in painful detail, the very real burdens and daily challenges they experienced before their very real loved ones died with CTE. 

The authors claim to have taken a community-based participatory approach but appear to have not included a single NFL wife whose husband was confirmed to have CTE as research partners or co-authors. We’re not hard to find, as many of us have been the subjects of the media reports they cite. The authors’ specious interpretation of the results indicates to us there was inadequate partner engagement in the research itself.  

We commend the authors for exploring the challenges and burdens partners like us experienced when caring for our loved ones with CTE. But their interpretation ignores our collective experience. Yes, caring for individuals with CTE is hard and has profound effects on caregivers and families. The burden we experienced did not happen because we are women unable to differentiate between our lived experience and stories from TV or newspaper reports. Our loved ones were giants in life, CTE robbed them of their futures, and robbed us of our futures with them. Please don’t also rob us of our dignity.  

 

Signed by:

Amy Creekmur, daughter of Louis Creekmur 
Patti Crist widow of Chuck Crist 
Tanya Nelson, sibling of Willie Chico Nelson
Ruth Daniel, widow of Willie Daniel 
Lisa McHale, widow of Tom McHale 
Samantha Pyle Buono, daughter of Mike Pyle 
Josh Frechette, son of John Frechette
Pat Frechette, widow of John Frechette
Jule’ Frechette, daughter of John Frechette
Sean Frechette, son of John Frechette
Mary Ann Easterling, widow of Ray Easterling
Brandi Winans, Widow of Jeff Winans
Seely Anderson-Gedney, widow of Chris Gedney
Tiffany Arrington, daughter of Rick Arrington
MaryJane Arrington, widow of Rick Arrington
Cyndy Childs, widow of Henry Childs
Mary Andrie Brooks,  daughter of George Andrie 
Judy Giordano, widow of Bob Riley
Tracy Lytle, widow of Rob Lytle 
Pier McConnell, Widow of Brian McConnell 
Mikie (Runager) Folio, ex-wife of Max Runager
Dr. Kesha M. James, widow of Lionel James 
Keana Strzelczyk, former wife of Justin Strzelczyk 
Justin Strzelczyk Jr,. Son of Justin Strzelczyk 
Sabrina Strzelczyk, daughter of Justin Strzelczyk 
Alison Owens, widow of Terry W. Owens
Natalie Bruhin, widow of John Bruhin 
Sarah Naylor, daughter of Greg Lens
Carolyn Lens, widow of Greg Lens
Kathleen Willis, daughter of Gerald Huth
Bethany Wirgowski, widow of Dennis Wirgowski 
Charity Hernandez, daughter of Palmer Pyle
Lynn Buoniconti, wife of Nick Buoniconti