In the News
Vasdev has teamed up with Project Enlist, a military-focused group working under the umbrella of the Concussion Legacy Foundation. The goal of Project Enlist is to get military veterans to donate their brains. So far 250 veterans have signed up, but they need more.
“Almost all the data we have from CTE brains comes from American football players,” says Vasdev. “So we really need to see populations such as military populations.”
Read the full press release here.
Veterans and mental illness — How Canadian research could unlock the mysteries of the brain
Calgary Flames star Jonathan Huberdeau has pledged to donate to his brain to Project Enlist Canada for research on brain injuries, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Project Enlist Canada is a program created by the Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada that focuses on military veterans and helps researchers better understand CTE, traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Read the full press release here.
Calgary Flames star Jonathan Huberdeau pledges to donate brain for CTE research
Sport-Study finds 'conclusive evidence' of head impact link to CTE
Researchers have found “conclusive evidence” that repeated head impacts cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a new study showed, and they called on sports governing bodies to take measures to help prevent the degenerative brain disease.
The study was carried out by researchers from Harvard University and eight other academic institutions alongside the Concussion Legacy Foundation, a Boston-based nonprofit which aims to reduce the risk of concussions in young athletes.
Read the full article here.
Although CTE is commonly associated with sports injuries, it can affect people from different walks of life, including military veterans. Unfortunately CTE is a diagnosis made only at autopsy by studying sections of the brain.
Tackling this link between the service of military veterans and CTE is Project Enlist Canada, a project of the Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada. And they need your brain to better understand CTE and how to improve the lives of those living with this disease.
Read the full article here.
Project Enlist seeks veterans to pledge to donate their brains
Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada has entered into a research collaboration with Dr. Neil Vasdev’s research team at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health with a special interest in the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) that is associated with repeated concussive and sub-concussive impacts on the brain.
Dr. Vasdev and his colleagues are exploring the progression of traumatic brain injuries through brain imaging in patients. The key to better understanding CTE is a brain protein called tau, which plays an essential role in the regulation of every healthy brain, and the brains of those with CTE, Alzheimer’s and other related neurodegenerative diseases that have a build-up of abnormally shaped tau protein.
Read full story here.
CAMH becoming a global leader in brain injury research
Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada is working together with the Canadian Armed Forces to raise awareness about head impacts and concussion in the military. Military personnel suffer about twice as many concussions as civilians due to the rigours of training, working with heavy equipment and deployment. Many personnel experience repetitive low-impact trauma. Just before the pandemic lockdown, the Canadian Armed Forces and CLF Canada co-hosted a symposium on military and sport concussion in Kingston, Ont.
Read full story here.
Help for those living with concussion
The head of the Concussion Legacy Foundation’s Canadian arm, former CFL O-lineman Tim Fleiszer, says the message is “deliberately provocative.”
“If we say that kids can’t vote, can’t drive cars, can’t smoke to a certain age, it’s not the right strategy to hit them in the head without their consent,” Fleiszer said. “And to say an eight- or 10-year old can consent to that and that they actually have an understanding of the long-term risks probably doesn’t make sense.”
Read the full article here.
FRIESEN: Concussion commercial ‘like a slap in the face’ to football
Having suffered four documented concussions during her hockey career, combined with battling anxiety and depression for more than a decade, Erin Ambrose didn’t hesitate when asked recently to donate her brain for medical research.
Read the full article here.
Team Canada's Erin Ambrose donating brain for concussion research
Ontario’s government is recognizing Rowan’s Law Day by investing $105,000 to expand efforts to improve concussion safety across the province.
Today Lisa MacLeod, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, was joined by Gordon Stringer, father of Rowan Stringer, Tim Fleiszer from the Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada (CLFC), and other concussion safety advocates to announce that Ontario is partnering with CLFC to support prevention, education and awareness events across the province.
Read full story here.
Ontario recognizes Rowan’s Law Day: Province invests $105,000 in Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada’s awareness programs
A heartbreaking tragedy - the 2013 death of 17-year-old rugby player Rowan Stringer from a series of concussions - is creating positive changes.
Rowan’s Law, first introduced as a private members bill by Nepean MPP Lisa MacLeod (the province’s Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport) is probably saving lives with its heightened concussion protocols. On Sept. 25, Rowan’s Law Day will be commemorated in Ottawa with a full day of events.
Read full story here.
Rowan’s Law Day an important reminder about young athletes and concussions
It's been a long, tough fight for Ottawa's Gordon Stringer.
But after years of working with two different governments, Rowan's Law, named in memory of his daughter, was finally passed in March 2018, and with it the establishment of Rowan's Law Day — the last Wednesday in September.
Each year on this day, schools across the province will host concussion awareness events aimed at educating students and faculty alike on the potentially fatal condition that claimed the life of Rowan Stringer in 2013.
Read full story here.
Rowan’s Law Day a lasting reminder of concussion danger
“When I was a player, it wasn’t a big deal to quote-unquote get your bell rung,” said Fleiszer, who won four Grey Cups, played for five teams and was a players’ association representative for four years. “We now understand that, in fact, it opens athletes up to potentially catastrophic injury. Allowing an athlete to play with a concussion puts them at serious risk.
Read full story here.
Former CFL player Tim Fleiszer speaking up about danger of concussions
Are you a sports coach, administrator or team captain in Canada? And do you care about the health of your players? Here’s a great way to prove it - and maybe save someone’s life some day.
Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada for the second consecutive year is promoting a campaign for team leaders at all level of sports, nationwide, to take just one minute – one minute – to help rid once and for all the lingering, Neanderthal culture that promotes the misguided, potentially life-threatening idea that a head-struck athlete somehow shows her or her ‘toughness’ by playing through a possible concussion.
Read full story here.
Team Up Speak Up concussion spotting message is a vital one
Samantha Bureau, public relations director for the Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada, says making concussion education an integral part of the curriculum and teaching students how to recognize the symptoms at an early age "is really what's going to shift this epidemic."
"If you can get to kids when they're seven, eight, nine … they're going to be learning this day to day," Bureau said. "You know like, 'This is the norm. Yes, I should report a concussion. Yes, if I'm not feeling well I need to tell someone.' So for us ... getting it into schools would make that a lot easier to do."
Read full story here.
Why Rowan’s Law has a long way to go to tackle the teen concussion ‘epidemic’
Why I donated my brain for research
In my entire career, I was never once formally diagnosed with a concussion.
Looking back, I’m pretty sure I likely suffered a few. After all, playing 32 years of hockey and contact sports, it’s hard to believe not one of those thousands of hits didn’t leave me spinning.
But there was one particular hit I took that I will never forget. It was in 2008. I was playing professional men’s hockey in Sweden.
Read full story here.
Rugby icon Al Charron to donate brain to Concussion Legacy Foundation Global Brain Bank
"If I pass away I might as well try to be doing something proper with my brain and hopefully, as being an organ donor as well, be able to carry a better quality of life for someone else." - Charron
Watch full story here.
Coach 'Sully' runs for all who know the darkness of concussion
“I’m not healed. My memory is shot on some things. I know I’m still unable to finish a (university) degree if I were to start. I’m still affected by the head injuries. But the drowning effect of the mental health consuming me, I’ve been able to tackle.” - Brent Sullivan
Read full story here.
Ontario passes concussion safety bill 'Rowan's Law'
"The Rowan's Law Act will be a catalyst for longer-term culture change for concussion management and injury prevention in amateur sport and beyond." - Daiene Vernil
Read full story here.
Retired hockey star Hayley Wickenheiser to donate brain to concussion research
“By pledging my brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation and the researchers at the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, I hope to support the best science and accelerate the development of ways to prevent and treat CTE.” - Wickenheiser
Read full story here.
Alouettes linebacker Kyries Hebert donating his brain for CTE research
“I remember lying in bed and looking one way — and the room spinning. Looking the other way and the room’s shaking. Closing my eyes and seeing thunder and lightning bolts. That was crazy and nerve-racking.” - Hebert
Read full story here.
Wife of fallen NFL star shares CTE story with Ottawa Brain Symposium
“Years later, when I fully understood Dr. McKee’s diagnosis, I remember telling her that she did more than help me understand what happened to the amazing man who I had been married to. She actually gave me back my Prince Charming.” - Lisa McHale
Read full story here.
Team Up Speak Up putting concussion awareness front and centre
The English Montreal School Board, in partnership with the Concussion Legacy Foundation Canada hosted a Team Up Speak Up Day event last week at Merton Elementary School in Côte Saint-Luc. Team Up Speak Up is an international concussion education campaign designed to change the culture of concussions in sports by encouraging athletes to Speak Up if they think a teammate has a concussion. The EMSB is the first Canadian school board to sign on to the campaign.
Read full story here.
Concussion foundation lauds CFL for eliminating contact practices during the season
“As a CFL alum and former CFL Players Association representative, I was proud of our league when I heard (the) news. It is a big step in the right direction. Other sports leagues should take note and follow suit." - Tim Fleiszer
Read full story here.
Concussion education program aims to compel Canadians to end ‘toughness’ culture
“The research has shown that we can teach (athletes) signs and symptoms — so now everybody knows when you get hit in the head and see stars, that might be a concussion. But we haven’t been able to convince them to come out of the game." - Chris Nowinski
Read full story here.