‘He was a different kid and then he was gone’: Parents warn of early CTE signs after son’s death

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Inside Bill and Christie Bramwell’s home, your attention is drawn immediately to a black and white collage of family photographs displayed on their living room wall.

But the picture of their son Wyatt stands out from the rest.

“When you have kids, you wonder what they’re going to be,” Wyatt’s father, Bill Bramwell, said. “With Wyatt, honestly, he was everything you would want your son to be growing up.”

Growing up in Pleasant Hill, Missouri, Wyatt was a straight-A student and a member of the National Honor Society who planned to study engineering in college.

But from the time he first strapped on a helmet in the third grade, the football field was the place where Wyatt stood out the most. By the time he wrapped up his senior season at Pleasant Hill High School, Wyatt was a four-year varsity letter winner who took home All-County, All-District and All-Conference honors as a wide receiver.

Christie and Bill Bramwell(Bramwell family)

“Wyatt was so good that it was a commitment to his future,” Bill said. “He was looking at playing college football. So much of Wyatt’s personality was that sport, and so much of that sport was Wyatt.”

But a few months following his final high school game, Wyatt’s personality and behavior suddenly changed, according to his parents.

“He was impulsive, argumentative,” Wyatt’s mother, Christie Bramwell, said. “He was making some very abrupt decisions that we wouldn’t consider normal for him. He would yell, which just wasn’t like Wyatt, and he stepped away from the family.”

Wyatt’s father initially believed it may have been typical teenage behavior.

“As a parent, you’re thinking, OK, am I dealing with this 18-year-old kid that’s transitioning from high school to college?” he asked. “You know, what kind of hormones are at play here?”

The Bramwells said Wyatt became uncharacteristically reckless by blowing off responsibilities and giving up on goals — like playing college football.

The Bramwells said they witnessed Wyatt’s sudden temperamental behavior worsen over two months. That’s when tragedy struck, and Wyatt took his own life.

“I just remember feeling just very numb, like this can’t be happening,” Christie said. “It didn’t make sense. He wouldn’t do this.”

In the minutes before Wyatt died, he recorded a video on his cell phone, telling his family that he had been suffering in secret and that his head was damaged from hits taken while playing football. In the video, Wyatt explained that the voices and demons inside his head had taken over everything he wanted to do and that he hoped his family would understand his decision to find peace from the pain.

And then Wyatt made one final request of his father.

“He believed he was suffering CTE, and he wanted his brain donated to science for that to be studied,” Bill said. “He shot himself in the chest, and we believe that was him preserving his brain for an accurate autopsy.”

CTE is chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease similar to Alzheimer’s that is most often associated with deceased NFL football players.

Caused by repeated hits to the head, CTE can only be diagnosed posthumously.

Grieving and confused, the Bramwells honored Wyatt’s wish and donated his brain to researchers at Boston University.

Two years after his death, Dr. Anne McKee, director of the BU CTE Center, diagnosed Wyatt with stage 2 CTE. An alarming discovery because it marked the first time that advanced CTE had ever been found in a high school football player as young as Wyatt.

A progressive disease, CTE is divided into four stages that are marked pathologically by tau protein buildup in the brain that impairs neuropathways and can cause severe cognitive issues. According to Dr. McKee, it takes years for CTE to progress from stage 1 to stage 2, and in Wyatt’s case, several CTE lesions were discovered in the part of his brain that controls memory and emotion.

Wyatt became part of a major study at BU, where researchers examined the brains of 152 contact sport athletes — mostly football, soccer, and ice hockey — who died before they turned 30 years old. The university released results showing that 68 of the young athletes studied — nearly 40% — had CTE.

“We’ve recognized that there’s an issue with pro athletes, and part of that is just due to the length of time that they play,” said Dr. Michael Rippee, a neurologist at the University of Kansas Medical Center specializing in concussion management in athletes. “For parents at home, I think what this study is showing is that these issues may happen earlier and with potentially fewer hits than we think.”

According to Dr. Rippe, that realization may present a dilemma for some parents who are on the fence about letting their kids play contact sports like football, especially at an early age.

“We don’t want to be overly worried and say you should never play contact sports again,” Dr. Rippee said. “But we know there’s a risk, and what we are trying to figure out is where that risk lies and for whom may be at a higher risk.”

Like many parents who watch their sons play football, the Bramwells knew the health risks associated with the sport and said they kept a close eye on Wyatt every time he took a hit or made a tackle on the gridiron.

Wyatt Bramwell playing football(Bramwell family)

“As a nurse, I was always up in his business, and we talked. He was my buddy,” Christie said. “He didn’t have any changes with his vision. He spoke intelligently. There was nothing like that that stood out.”

Instead of taking his memory, the Bramwells believe the disease caused Wyatt’s behavioral and mood changes, something Dr. McKee has said is indicative of stage 2 CTE.

“A lot of those behaviors Wyatt was dealing with was him trying to battle what was going on inside his head, but the damage was already done,” Bill said. “You’re talking about an 18-year-old kid that, inside his mind, is already starting to be in the 70s and 80s.”

While injuries from concussions in the sport of football have garnered a lot of attention over the past decade — and repeated concussions certainly increase the risk of developing CTE — Wyatt’s parents said he was only diagnosed with one concussion, suffered during his eight-grade season.

Because of this, they believe Wyatt’s disease was the result of smaller hits to the head that piled up over his ten years of playing tackle football.

Dr. Rippee says the BU study gives credence to the Bramwells’ belief about their son.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t seem to be about the number of diagnosed concussions, although that’s certainly important,” Dr. Rippee said. “It seems to be more about how many times they’re just hitting their heads. It’s just that constant hitting the head all day in practice, in games over and over, play by play.”

While the Bramwells no longer live in Missouri — eventually moving just outside of Clarksville, Tennessee, to better balance Bill’s travel schedule with work — the football fields outside Kansas City, where Wyatt starred as a player, still hold a special place in their hearts.

The Bramwells are adamant that they are not anti-football, saying college games and the NFL are still on the living room TV. Still processing Wyatt’s death, the Bramwells chose to invite WSMV4 Investigates into their home, hoping their story could help other parents spot early signs of CTE and avoid the heartbreak of losing a child.

“There is so much more to Wyatt than how he chose to leave this world,” Christie said. “But it angers me because I wasn’t given the opportunity to save him.”

In protecting young athletes from the dangers of CTE, especially those playing tackle football, the Bramwells say the first thing parents should understand is that their children are taking more potentially brain-damaging hits than they realize.

To counter that risk, the Bramwells say parents should foster an environment where young athletes can talk about their health, especially their mental well-being, and whether the rigors of playing a contact sport are taking a toll on their bodies and minds.

“Whether it’s players like Wyatt, or at whatever level, they’ve got to talk to their parents or a grandparent and have some conversation,” his father said. “You can’t just pretend like, ‘Well, this is what that is.’ If a knee gets hurt, you don’t ever stop to even think about going to the doctor, so why treat the mind any differently?”

Wyatt’s father believes it’s also critically important for parents to keep close eyes on their young athletes’ behavior in the off-season and even when their playing careers are over.

“There seems to be some kind of congruency that runs, whether it’s NFL, college and a few of the high school players, that after the sport is done, then these (CTE) symptoms start to show up,” he said “With Wyatt, it was like a lot of these behaviors seemed to run the timeline of four to six months after his last season. So, it’s like the brain, as long as it’s being contacted, it keeps firing.”

While some high school athletes naturally have behavioral changes due to hormones, the Bramwells caution parents against brushing off sudden swings in temperament and personality to “typical teenage behavior.”

“Own your responsibility as a parent,” Bill said. “There’s no certainty what’s going on, but not trying to find out can leave a family in ruin.”

In the video Wyatt recorded before ending his life, he said he hoped his parents could find closure by donating his brain to research and learning that he suffered from CTE.

While the diagnosis has provided the Bramwells with some answers, they learned there is no such thing as closure when a parent loses a child. The only thing left is an indescribable pain that can only be momentarily overcome by remembering who that person was before they were lost forever.

“I haven’t found peace yet, but I’m sure it will come at some point,” Christie said. “At least I have faith it will.”

The Bramwells said they witnessed their son’s sudden temperamental behavior worsen over two months. That’s when tragedy struck, and Wyatt took his own life.

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