Losing a Husband and Father to CTE | The Greg Lens Story

Greg Lens was an All-Conference defensive tackle at Trinity College before starting for the Atlanta Falcons in 1970 and 1971. In the last decade of his life Lens struggled with memory and behavioral issues. He died in 2009 and his brain was studied at the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank, where he was diagnosed with Stage 4 (of 4) CTE. His widow Carolyn Lens and daughter Sarah Naylor remember his nature as a gentle giant, and detail the ways CTE changed him and devastated their family.

To learn more about CTE, visit the following resources:

[Lehanii]

Very sad. I'm starting to research all this after dating a rugby player in his 40's. After contemplating his behaviours many months later, I'm truly curious how CTE symptoms may actually become confused with and labelled as narcissism.

[ST-ltls]

This is very sad. My husband is a combat veteran. I recently took him to a new neurologist because of personality and behavior changes. He already had a confirmed TBI. I suspected FTD. The neurologist suspects its CTE. He has gone from the most easy going guy, to someone who is aggressive and mean. He flies off the handle at things that don’t warrant that kind of response. He is only 55.

[marknorris]

my father coached and truly loved greg, i have only vague memories of greg, i was quite young, this is a horrible disease, i can't understand why anybody would allow a child to play this sport, as we now know there is literally zero safe level of brain trauma, i can't understand why high school football exists anywhere, i remember my father telling me greg passed, but i had never heard these heart breaking details, my father died in 2014, he was 79

[solidsnake]

Cte is serious. I don't know if you watched wrestling, but former wwe superstar had cte. I looked this up because my best friend, her husband now has cte and is totally different from when I 1st met him

[CindyRaaf]

Why attack someone with cte stage 3 my nephew had it