Chris Nowinski: Can I have your brain? The quest for truth on concussions and CTE
Chris Nowinski: Posso ficar com seu cérebro? A busca pela verdade sobre as concussões e a ETC
Dr. Chris Nowinski is leading a global conversation on concussions, CTE and the future of sports. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
if you've met me in the last five years
se me conheceram nos últimos cinco anos,
a bit of an odd question:
uma pergunta estranha:
if you don't know my story
se você não conhece minha história.
compartilhá-la com vocês.
and I was an athlete
to play football at Harvard University.
futebol americano na Universidade Harvard.
like most Harvard graduates,
dos formados em Harvard,
from Monday Night Raw in 2002 and 2003,
do Monday Night Raw de 2002 e 2003,
carinhosamente gostam de chamar
affectionately like to call
by my colleague Bubba Ray Dudley,
do meu colega Bubba Ray Dudley,
permanent postconcussion symptoms:
de pós-concussão permanentes:
depression, feeling in a fog.
para dormir, depressão, atordoamento.
how could I make this pain go away.
aquela dor sumir.
the answers I needed from doctors,
as respostas que eu precisava,
into the medical literature.
na literatura médica.
this whole story about concussions
uma história de concussões
Concussion Crisis", lançado em 2006.
Football's Concussion Crisis"
que não se tratava apenas de concussões.
it's not really just about concussions.
chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE.
encefalopatia traumática crônica ou ETC.
because we only knew about it from boxers.
porque só sabíamos disso pelos boxeadores.
too many times with boxers
na cabeça, como os boxeadores,
start to rot, to degenerate.
a deteriorar, a se degenerar.
de memória e problemas cognitivos,
and problems with cognition,
control issues, aggression.
de impulso, agressividade.
were studied for this disease.
foram estudados para essa doença.
50 years old, already had dementia.
50 anos, já com demência.
45 years old when he took his life.
tinha 45 anos quando se matou.
decided to look at their brains
decidiu analisar o cérebro deles
a big deal out of it.
algo importante com isso.
com a confirmação dos primeiros casos,
the first two cases came in positive,
news story about this,
no noticiário nacional sobre isso,
with these cases of CTE.
com esses casos de ETC.
November 20, 2006.
de 2006, leio o jornal.
just took his life.
cresci vendo Andre Waters.
I grew up watching.
da segunda divisão,
a Division II football coach
his nickname was Dirty Waters.
o apelido dele era "Dirty Waters".
about the concussions he had.
sobre as concussões dele.
where Andre Waters said,
concussões aos 15 anos.
smelling salts and go back out there."
sais aromáticos e voltava pra lá".
poderia ter ETC também,
if he might have CTE, too.
made him choose to end his life.
para ele escolher tirar a própria vida.
who did the first two studies, and I said,
que fez os primeiros estudos e disse:
estudar Andre Waters".
study Andre Waters."
died in the county in which I work,
morreram no município onde trabalho,
como parte da tarefa.
he died in Florida.
que morreu na Flórida.
you're going to have to figure out
o cérebro dele pra mim".
the medical examiner
o médico legista que deve ter o cérebro?
in Florida, and I said,
tem o cérebro de Andre Waters?"
have the brain of Andre Waters?"
study him for CTE?"
irá estudá-lo para a ETC?"
he didn't believe that was a real disease.
não acreditava que era uma doença real.
do you mind if I have it?"
importa-se se eu ficar com o cérebro?"
of his next of kin,
do parente mais próximo,
who his next of kin was and ask them,
o parente mais próximo e lhe pedir,
Andre Waters's 88-year-old mother.
de 88 anos de Andre Waters.
a breath and I thought,
an 88-year-old grieving mother
a uma mãe de luto, de 88 anos,
o filho para o suicídio?"
said, "Don't do it.
essa pobre mãe passar por isso.
this poor woman through,
na minha cabeça dizia:
from this disease
por causa dessa doença,
prevent this from happening in the future,
evitar que isso aconteça no futuro,
and do something that's very hard."
e fazer algo que é muito difícil".
third... no voice mails.
na terceira... sem correio de voz.
was so gracious about the call and said,
foi muito amável sobre a ligação e disse:
what happened to Andre.
nos cinco últimos anos da vida dele".
in the last five years of his life."
diagnosed with the disease.
da NFL com a doença.
entre moderado e grave.
of three NFL players here.
de três jogadores da NFL aqui.
a little bit more serious.
um pouco mais sério,
the Concussion Legacy Foundation,
que formalizou o trabalho,
de um cara pedindo cérebros.
some guy calling for brains.
the best research team I could find.
que eu poderia encontrar.
com a Universidade de Boston,
at the VA here in Boston,
de saúde aqui de Boston,
how to cure degenerative brain disease,
uma doença cerebral degenerativa,
by actually studying the brains.
centro no mundo focado na ETC.
in the world focused on CTE.
and it's my job to get the brains
e meu trabalho é conseguir os cérebros
and her brain bank, right in the middle.
de cérebros, bem no meio.
Dr. Robert Cantu,
com o Dr. Bob Stern, o Dr. Robert Cantu,
of scientists that I support.
de cientistas que eu apoio.
in those early years.
by reading the obituaries.
lendo os obituários.
poor families that I've been calling
com as quais tenho entrado em contato
to ask for their brains.
para pedir os cérebros.
as it started to really eat away at me,
realmente a me incomodar.
can I find another way
their brains to this research?
o cérebro para esta pesquisa?
what if we could create a culture
de doação de cérebros neste país?
doarem o cérebro após a morte?
to donate their brain after they died?
de doação de cérebros.
was a brain donation registry.
to donate their brain to science.
a doar o cérebro deles para a ciência.
a hockey player in 2009.
com um jogador de hóquei em 2009.
was a former Harvard hockey player,
foi um ex-jogador de hóquei de Harvard,
in the NHL at the time.
what this was about.
entenderem do que se tratava.
o cérebro para a ciência",
his brain to science,"
no dia seguinte,
to the locker room the next day,
o puxou de lado e disse:
pulled him aside and said,
o cérebro para a ciência".
your brain to science."
How many games are you going to miss?"
você vai perder?"
they keep in their wallet.
de cérebro, que guardam na carteira.
obviously first, it says 01.
aqui diz: número um.
Brandi Chastain, ícone do futebol feminino
to have people like Brandi Chastain,
Nick Buoniconti, do Hall da Fama,
Hall-of-Famer Nick Buoniconti
signed up to pledge his brain.
se inscreveu para doar o cérebro.
and the great thing about it
do modo de conseguir os cérebros.
in changing how we're able to get brains.
more families call us.
mais famílias ligam para nós.
on taking this information,
em conseguir a informação,
towards a cure,
para achar a cura e a prevenção.
that we've able to get over the years
que conseguimos obter ao longo dos anos
a doar o cérebro.
apenas 45 casos da doença,
in the world of this disease
mais de 300 deles tinham ETC.
100 brains since we started this.
100 cérebros desde que começamos.
is very frightening.
the headline in July
a manchete de julho do "New York Times"
NFL players we looked at
111 jogadores da NFL que analisamos,
football players we looked at,
universitário que examinamos,
that's a very big concern to me.
to actually treat this disease?
para tratar realmente essa doença.
CTE in living people,
a ETC em seres vivos,
that are going to be coming
in the next five years.
nos próximos cinco anos.
is here to not only facilitate this work,
existe não só para facilitar o trabalho,
é que podemos prevenir isso.
hey, we can prevent this.
in the head so much.
na cabeça das pessoas.
hitting children in the head.
de bater na cabeça das crianças.
to hit a five-year-old in the head
de 5 anos 500 vezes por ano.
para essa doença.
open up the door to this disease.
a lot of work ahead of us.
on our way to curing this disease.
a caminho da cura para essa doença.
my story a little more now.
um pouco mais a minha história.
to know each other a little bit better,
um pouco melhor,
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Chris Nowinski - Social entrepreneurDr. Chris Nowinski is leading a global conversation on concussions, CTE and the future of sports.
Why you should listen
Dr. Chris Nowinski is an All-Ivy Harvard football player-turned WWE professional wrestler-turned neuroscientist. He discovered the concussion crisis the hard way: a 2003 kick to the chin in a WWE tag-team match ended his career, causing post-concussion syndrome and sending him on a journey where he uncovered a public health conspiracy that continues to cost lives.
Nowinski wrote the investigative expose Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis in 2006 and soon after founded the non-profit Concussion Legacy Foundation (CLF), where he serves as CEO. He co-founded the world-famous Boston University (BU) CTE Center, where he serves as the outreach, recruitment, education, and public policy leader, as well as the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, where he led recruitment for the 2017 study that found 110 of 111 deceased NFL players had CTE. His journey has been profiled in media outlets like HBO's "Real Sports", ESPN's "Outside the Lines" and the New York Times, and he was the subject of the award-winning documentary Head Games: The Global Concussion Crisis by celebrated director Steve James.
Nowinski earned his doctorate in behavioral neuroscience from Boston University School of Medicine and has authored more than 25 scientific publications. VICE Sports called Nowinski "the man most responsible for making CTE part of the national conversation," and Sports Illustrated said, "It is Nowinski's figure which looms behind the doctors and the headlines and the debate roiling over sports'newfound commitment to minimizing head trauma."
Chris Nowinski | Speaker | TED.com