iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — Former NFL tight end Ben Utecht appeared on Capitol Hill Wednesday to talk about the dangers of concussions in sports, sharing his own struggles since enduring five known concussions during his time as a college and professional athlete.
“It took losing my mind to care about my mind,” Utecht said at a hearing before the Senate Special Committee on Aging.
Utecht won a Super Bowl championship with the Indianapolis Colts in 2007, but two years later, he suffered a major blow to his career and his health.
“Two years later that dream was shattered when I woke up face down on a training camp field in Georgetown, Kentucky, being strapped to a board and put onto an ambulance because of my fifth documented concussion,” he said. “For the first time in my life, my brain became a priority, and the reason why it became a priority is because at 29 years old, I started to have memory problems.”
Utecht, now a father of three young girls, shared how he began to lose some memories, including serving as a groomsman at a friend’s wedding, and started to experience behavioral changes which frightened his young daughter.
“There is hearing my 5-year-old daughter tell my family practice doctor that at times she’s afraid of me,” Utecht said as he grew emotional. “As a father it puts the idea of the effects of traumatic brain injury on a completely different level.”
Utecht told the committee he is now dedicated to working to raise awareness about traumatic brain injury and asked the lawmakers to be “coaches” in the fight.
“I can’t help now but throw myself into a new target, neurology, to tackle a new opponent, brain disease and particularly traumatic brain injuries and concussions,” Utecht said. “You as senators can really become our new coaches. You can help decide the game strategy, put in the countless hours of work and research into creating policies that can change this nation, connecting people to their most valuable asset — their mind.”
“I will not stop in the pursuit of finding cures for finding brain disease and creating an emotional connection between,” he said. “It’s time for all of us to realize how special our brains really are.”
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