According to the Boston Globe, former Patriots running back Kevin Turner, previously believed to have died of ALS in March of 2016, in fact had CTE.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative disease, is commonly associated with repeated blows to the head and has become an increasingly prominent story in the NFL. According to the Globe, Turner’s CTE caused a motor neuron disease, which would seemingly explain the misdiagnosis of ALS, another motor neuron disease. Turner was 46 when he died.
“This is not ALS; this is CTE,” the Globe quotes Dr. Ann McKee, director of BU’s CTE Center, as saying at a news conference.
The piece also names former Boston College linebacker Ron Perryman as having been misdiagnosed with ALS when he too had CTE. Perryman died in 2011 at 42 years of age. The Globe report says Perryman developed a motor neuron disease similar to Turner’s.
BU’s CTE center has reportedly diagnosed CTE in 91 former players who have died, with McKee saying 17 players believed to have died of ALS actually died of CTE.
Raymond Turner, the father of Kevin Turner, voiced his issues with the NFL not protecting its players well enough.
“It’s a big-money thing, I realize that,’’ he said. “But they can make it safer.’’