Henry died tragically in a car accident last year, afterwards his mother gave researchers permission to study his brain.
The researchers at West Virginia University found signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy which is only caused by repeated hits to the head. The researchers have found the disease in more than 50 former athletes including more than a dozen college and pro football players.
The disease occurs when a person suffers multiple concussive which leads to a build up of tau proteins in the brain which can tangle and clump brain cells and threads. The damaged cells can make vitamins and proteins naturally produced in the brain not function properly leading to depression and dementia.
CTE is the same condition former pro wrestler Chris Benoit had when he killed his family and himself in 2007.
Researchers are still studying the links to CTE and behavioral changes, but most cases where CTE is found there is some history of a change ranging from depression to alcohol and drug abuse.
For years, the NFL and its affiliated researchers disputed a scientific evidence linking concussions to long-term brain damage. However, referring to reports of CTE among former players, NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee co-chair Richard Ellenbogen told The New York Times earlier this month, “They aren’t assertions or hype — they are facts.”
The NFL recently donated $1 million to CTE research at Boston University to help study the disease and effects, as well as ways of preventing it.
