Source: Warren Little / Getty
The former tight end Ben Utecht was in the NFL for five plus years with the Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals.
Utecht first saw real field action for the Colts in 2006 with 37 receptions for 377 yards and that’s also the season that the Colts won Super Bowl XLI.
In 2008, Utecht became a free agent and was later picked up by the Cincy Bengals until 2009 when he suffered a helmet to helmet hit right above his face mask on August 5th and was sent to injury reserves.
The concussion hit was captured HBO’s “Hard Knocks” and aired on one of the show’s episodes too. The Bengals later cut Utecht while he was on IR and that was the end of football for him, but that’s ok because he’s focusing on his music where you can see his videos of him singing the National Anthem at games and events.
Utecht’s latest battle is his memory loss, the former NFL player suffered five major concussions during his college and professional career in football.
Now, he has written a book to get it out there… concussions and where it’s going to lead to. It’s just like Dr. Bennet Omalu publicized for the world to know, that concussions lead to memory loss and more.
After that hit in 2009, Utecht says in The MMQB’s Emily Kaplan article in regards to his journal entry four days after his hit: “Random headaches, dizziness, sleeplessness, night sweating, loss of balance, fatigue, nausea, hard time driving in car, forgetting sentences, hard to concentrate, irritability, sadness, snapping at wife.”
He says that, “This book is a keepsake. I wanted to provide content for my daughters to be able to hold on to, to have forever.”
He’s 35-years old and he has four daughters, the oldest is 7-years old and now he’s become a speaker and advocate for concussion awareness. In 2014, he even spoke, testifying before Congress about concussions too.
He’s trying to absorb every single memory and occurrence saying, “I try to value every moment, no matter how small. Until recently, I never realized how special memory is.”
He’s not the only player or former player that has this happening, but he’s speaking out and he’s taking steps forward to preserve what he can for right now.
Via:yahoo
