CTE is the Pandemic of our life time.
CTE is directly tied to 12000 YEARLY Veteran SUICIDES.
CTE is directly tied to America's Mass Shooting problem, 31 % are Veteran shooters. People with head injuries make up the majority.
If you ask 100 Americans how did doctors treat their concussion. Most will say the doctor or medic told them not to go to sleep for a few hours. There is no treatment!
When any body part is injured, our body floods that area with fluids to protect it from further injury. Physical Therapist usual get involved at this point. Their job is to remove the inflamation. However, when it comes to concussions they don't do anything to remove that fluid or scar tissues. That is why many of us find ourselves in early dementia.
Misdiagnosis
In many cases it takes almost 20 years before the symptoms become unbearable. That 20 year pause is causing Misdiagnosis. Doctors are assuming this is a new mental health issue and they often prescribe medication that are designed for chemical imbalance conditions such as Bi-Polar or Schizophrenia. These meds are causing more suicides because a Concussion is a PHYSICAL INJURY caused by blast waves,blunt trauma and G-forces.
My Name is William Person, after 9 years of racing bobsleds for Team USA, I began to show most of the symptoms of CTE. Even though Mental Health was huge part of my career before and after my Team USA journey, I was unable to figure out what was wrong. The side effects of concussions mimic many other health conditions. If, there was not a trail of Olympic bobsled suicides and the NEW YORK TIMES article SLED HEAD I would still be in the dark. My life began to turn around after Joe Namath shared his story about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. I have been Paying It Forward every since.
I NEED YOUR HELP
I want to offer the same treatment that saved my life to people suffering with CTE / Post Concussion issues, and I want to do it for FREE, zero cost to the family. HBOT therapy is too expensive. For an individual to self treat, it would $12000 for the first 30 days.
This is a humanity problem. Every week there is a mass shooting. Most mass shooters have head injuries in their background. No citizen is immune to the possibility of being the victim of a mass shooter.
When I started this journey I assumed this was a NFL and Olympic Bobsledder issue. As I followed the symptoms I realized CTE is also being found in Military Combat Vets (blast waves), Domestic Violence Victims, Hockey Players etc.
Shocking Facts
*Military Veterans account for 32% of mass shootings.
*There have been 7250 US soldiers killed in war from 1990-2021. However 6400 veterans commit suicide, YEARLY. There's an additional 5000 that overdose EVERY YEAR. The overdoses are not called suicides even if they leave a suicide note. That's over 11000 yearly Veteran suicides.
*Every few weeks we hear of a NFL suicide or murder.
*High School football players are being confirmed with CTE upon death.
Before I found help, life slowly became miserable. I had random cloudy days that slowly turned into random days of clarity. I began to not recognize familiar faces, and everyday when I woke up, I had to figure out what day and month it was. I began to get lost in my own neighborhood. Because of my condition I did not realize that the suicides in the Winter Olympic community was related to my health conditions.
CTE—Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy is the same neurodegenerative brain disease that led to Junior Seau and many other athletes to commit suicide. The disease is caused by repeated head trauma in contact sports like football, bobsledding, and military service.
My Story
My friend and former teammate, Pavle Jovanovic, called me one day, speaking Gibberish. I could not understand anything he said. He got so frustrated he hung up the phone. I sat at home and every day I told myself to find him some help. May 3, 2020, I received the news that he hung himself at his family's business.
The guilt of not understanding his pain and failing to offer support haunted me. I eventually found out I could not help him because I also needed help. One of the biggest issues with CTE is most victims can not recognize the symptoms in their self. The shockwave of loss continued as more of my former Bobsledding teammates followed the same tragic path, including Steve Holcolmb, from my 2003 World Championship team. Steve is responsible for all Olympic medals that American men won since 2003.
Pavle’s and Steve' s deaths along with others made me realize many of us Bobsledders are struggling with CTE related symptoms. Pavle was our version of Superman; he was in stage 4 CTE and couldn't even speak clearly. I filed a class action lawsuit in hopes of finding help for all the athletes in need and to protect young and upcoming athletes in the sport. I filed for TRANSPARENCY, because none of us were warned about the long-term cognitive issues of participating in the sport – not just the threat of crashing – I’m talking about the simple nature of the sport that jumbles the brain inside the skull, those deadly G-forces.
The diagnosis of CTE in my sport has become our common thread. This is a global issue that is being ignored and swept under the carpet. The New York Times broke the story with an article called “Sled Head” (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/26/sports/olympics/olympics-bobsled-suicide-brain-injuries.html).
It was reported that bobsled athletes are pulling extreme G-forces (84.5 G's), more than Military Fighter Pilots and the Space Shuttle. Another article was released in December of 2024 stating fighter pilots are suffering from the same fate as bobsled athletes, however, add in vibrations from rough ice (SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME), concussions and Bobsledding becomes the perfect storm for stage 4 CTE.
Many athletes suffer from CTE. But it doesn't have to be a death sentence.
Joe Namath's inspiring story introduced me to Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), a potential lifeline (https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/13186859/joe-namath-believes-found-cure-brain-damage-caused-football ).
Now, I'm determined to provide FREE HBOT TREATMENT to those in need,with an emphasis on veterans grappling with CTE. To make this vision a reality, I need your help.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Chambers cost tens of thousands of dollars, making access impossible for most. It’s suggested some may need 30 consecutive days of treatment or more. That's a minimum of $12,000 which does not include food, travel or lodging. Therefore our veterans and less fortunate citizens are not receiving the help they deserve. Let's not forget that many of our mass shootings are related to CTE. American Post Concussion Wellness Center is a nonprofit dedicated to offering help to these families.
CTE symptoms vary from depression,seizures, strokes, anxiety, memory loss, loss of words, inability to do simple math, to Parkinson's disease and suicide. The inability to focus makes many adult believe that they have ADHD. My story has already reached athletes in other sports facing similar battles, and lives have already been saved.
I received a call from a hockey player who was in tears. He shared that he was planning a second suicide attempt, but after seeing my story in the New York Times, he changed his mind. He was the first, but definitely not the last.
With every day, I witness the remarkable progress HBOT brings, and I believe it can help many – from playground injuries to college athletes, Veterans, and homemakers.
While I'm not out of the woods, HBOT gives me back quality of life, more and more with each treatment. I’m one who will likely require treatment for the rest of my life. I never received medical treatment for the concussions I sustained during my Olympic journey, and I do not know of any athletes who did. During a World Cup race in St. Moritz, Switzerland, prior to opening 2002 Olympic Ceremonies, I was involved in a horrific crash. My brakeman was unconscious and I had a nasty case of Vertigo that still pops up frequently. I actually have it this week along with a constant headache that’s sometimes in between a migraine or faint ache but it never goes away. Our treatment back then was to go back to the hotel and make sure neither of us goes to sleep. So which concussed guy was supposed to monitor which? My vertigo was so strong, the room would spin the moment I sat up in the bed.
I shared my story with Chapman Downes on HBO REAL SPORTS and Mike Bush on NBC, but I struggled to stay on topic during both interviews because of my cloudy brain. I was so embarrassed of my condition that I hid from the media until now. Before HBOT, my mind was trapped in a painful loop. Every morning I had to figure out what day and month it was. This was my daily routine. I still struggle with this at times but it has become my warning to get back in the oxygen chamber; I call it my Spidey Sense.
Before HBOT, on many days I had to lay on the floor or maneuver my mattress as close to the restroom as possible. It gets much uglier, but I will spare you the gruesome details. Now, I’m in a much better place, thanks to Joe Namath’s story and his HBOT therapy. Some days are not pretty but they are much better than my Pre HBOT days.
What We Need:
I am happy to share our infrastructure is in place. We have our clinic location and housing for patients who require 30 day program. We need funds for HBOT hard shell chambers and finishing funds for clinic build out.
• For those who would like a tax deduction for your generous donation, we have 501c3 tax ID.
Please, share my story, and join me in saving lives. For more information, explore the New York Times articles on this critical topic. Thank you for reading this and joining my mission to help.
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