08/19/2022, Beverly Hills // PRODIGY: Feature Story //
Recognized by the Concussion Legacy Foundation, Chris Boyce’s Facebook group CTE & The Brain Injury Global Support (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) is determined to implement. They focus on educating parents, sports leaders and the sports community about how concussive trauma has contributed or caused long-term brain health issues.
Parkman shares his story about his son’s behavior of depression and distant behavior. Boyce shares similar symptoms of dizziness, anxiety, insomnia, short-term memory loss, anger issues, and sensory overload, among others that were experienced after two consecutive concussions. He summed it up in a startling statement.
“It is a big psychological game…The rage is huge.”
Listen to the full episode with host Bruce Parkman and Chris Boyce here.
Is the Medical Community Supportive?
Finding the cause and treatment of Boyce’s symptoms have been challenging. Locating doctors who acknowledge that early-age contact sports could be the cause of mental health issues adds to the lack of answers and successful treatment. Boyce explains that he has been on 78 different medications and is told by the therapist to see the neurologist and the neurologist says to see the therapist.
“Doctors don’t know what to do with people like us,” says Boyce.
But, his determination to get better for himself, his family and to help others in the same situation is bringing change. “You have to be your best advocate,” Boyce says adamantly. He found a doctor that offered him a DTI MRI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Magnetic Resonance Imaging). According to Boyce, “It showed an axonal shear injury in the superior frontal lobe, two micro-hemorrhages with white matter loss. If I wasn’t persistent in telling these doctors that there is something wrong and gone off of the first MRI, I would have never known that I have brain damage.”
What Advice Can You Offer…
