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SPORTS Friday 24 May 2019
Faces of concussions: NHL's head-on battle with an epidemic

By STEPHEN WHYNO with playing. Commissioner
AP Hockey Writer Gary Bettman has con-
HOMER GLEN, Ill. (AP) — sistently denied there is a
Wearing a black shirt with conclusive link between re-
"Fight for your happiness" peated blows to the head
on the front and "Sick not and the degenerative
weak" on the back, Daniel brain disease chronic trau-
Carcillo eats an apple as matic encephalopathy.
his wife makes a cappucci- Carcillo calls the concus-
no nearby and their oldest sions issue an epidemic,
daughter scampers around though the alumni asso-
the kitchen. ciation and attorneys in-
This is the family he always volved in lawsuits against
wanted, just not the life he the league cannot provide
expected. a real estimate of just how
Carcillo is hurting inside and many former players might
out after seven document- be suffering the same prob-
ed concussions in the Na- lems as Carcillo — the kind
tional Hockey League and of problems loved ones of
what he believes could be players like Todd Ewen and
literally hundreds of trau- Wade Belak noticed be-
matic brain injuries. Once fore their suicides.
his wife Ela, son Austin, Carcillo doesn't remember
daughters Laila and Scar- any of his first five concus-
lett and dog Bubba left the sions but can't seem to es-
house, Carcillo explained cape the anxiety, depres- FILE - In this Nov. 10, 2001, file photo, Toronto Maple Leafs' Wade Belak, left, fights with New Jersey
where his head is at. It has sion, lack of impulse control Devils' Jim McKenzie during first period NHL action in Toronto. Steve Montador, Todd Ewen, Wade
Belak, Rick Rypien, Bob Probert, Jeff Parker and Derek Boogaard are dead. Many of them were
been nearly a year since and suicidal thoughts that enforcers tasked with delivering and taking punches for teammates and all took many blows to
his last round of neurologi- creep in. He feels better in the head.
cal treatment and right the immediate aftermath Associated Press
now the bad days outnum- of functional neurology
ber the good. Darkness has therapy but that only helps over nine seasons. Eric Lindros is fine most days. ey Hall of Fame. Now a
returned. Carcillo get back to his "I keep up with my treat- The jarring Scott Stevens 46-year-old husband and
This is a bad day. "new normal." It also costs ment," Carcillo said. "I de- shoulder-to-head hit on Lin- father, he isn't sure what
"I'm going to choose when $10,000 each time. scribe it as when you're dros in Game 7 of the 2000 the benchmark should be
I'm going to go," Carcillo "My greatest fear moving losing your quality of life. Eastern Conference final for how he should be feel-
said. "I'll make that decision forward is that I will con- Good days and bad days that was applauded and ing. He his own baseline.
of how much pain I'm go- tract some sort of neuro- are normal, all good days legal at the time is cringe- "I'd like to think I'm pretty
ing to put my loved ones degenerative disease like aren't normal and all bad worthy now. It came two normal," Lindros said. "I think
through that are around early-onset dementia, Al- days aren't normal but you years after Lindros took an- so. We all have our mo-
me." zheimer's, Parkinson's, CTE," just have to weigh it. I've other devastating hit from ments." Lindros could easily
He is just 34, hung up his Carcillo said. "And then my be the poster boy for con-
skates in 2015 and wants to wife and my two daugh- cussions in the NHL given his
be known as Daniel Carcil- ters and my son will have to experience as a star whose
lo who used to play hock- watch me deteriorate and career was cut short. He
ey, not Daniel Carcillo the die." was aware of the law-
hockey player. He spends Carcillo spends his days suit but didn't join. Lindros
his days now trying to man- now speaking out about doesn't want the threat of
age the damage the sport the dangers of brain injuries concussions to deter kids —
did to him while also cru- in hockey and other sports. even his own — from play-
sading against the concus- He frequently takes to so- ing hockey. Still, he ponders
sions crisis that has hit the cial media, hoping to use an uncertain future.
NHL over the past decade- the platform for the greater "You'd be a fool not to," he
plus. The league has taken good. said.
steps to address the topic, But time is running out for Carcillo can't change the
but it has not faded from the journeyman forward punch to the head that
view by any means as the who played most recently gave him his seventh con-
Stanley Cup Final opens for the Chicago Black- cussion but wants to docu-
Monday. hawks. Carcillo doesn't In this Tuesday, April 2, 2019, photo, former NHL player Dan Car- ment every step of his jour-
The league last fall settled have a full-time job and cillo rubs his forehead during an interview with The Associated ney so that if he can't save
a lawsuit for $18.9 million estimates he has two years Press at his rural home in Homer Glen, Ill. In this Tuesday, April 2, himself, maybe he can
with more than 300 retired until he goes bankrupt. He 2019, photo, former NHL player Dan Carcillo rubs his forehead save others.
during an interview with The Associated Press at his rural home
players after winning a key considers selling his two in Homer Glen, Ill. "It's been pretty, pretty mis-
victory against class-action Stanley Cup rings to pay for Associated Press erable: a lot of searching,
status. It included $22,000 treatment and support his a lot of treatment and a
for each player and provi- family. lot of money spent, a lot of
sions for testing but no ac- Carcillo wants his day in been in really, really bad Darius Kasparaitis. friends lost," he said. "I need
knowledgement of liability court with the NH, to chart places, like on the edge of Lindros was concussed at to get it figured out, or else
for the players' claims the a path for the rest of his life killing myself. I just kind of least five times during a I don't think I'll be here that
NHL failed to protect them and to save others. It is also weigh it against that — not dominant but injury-short- long. If I continue to feel
from head injuries or warn a battle just to save himself waiting until I get to that ened career that landed this way, it doesn't bode
them of the risks involved after those 429 NHL games place." him a spot in the Hock- well for my future."q