KUSA - Jeb Putzier was a couple years into life after football. He was working for a medical equipment company - trying to help the surgeon and attendants in an operating room - when his brain went haywire.
"I'm in the O.R. trying to remember stuff and I couldn't do it," he said. "I couldn't remember things and then my fatigue was falling. I would come into the O.R., the stress of it, I just could not do it anymore."
Putzier, a 6-foot-6, 255-pound athlete whom during the Broncos' 2004-05 seasons (when he combined for 73 receptions) was known for making body-twisting catches across the middle, hanging on even after getting punished by those 10 O'clock highlight hits.
After playing nine years of professional football with four teams as a tight end – 4 and a half years in two stints with the Denver Broncos, two years with the Houston Texans, a half season with the Seattle Seahawks and one final season in 2010 with the Omaha Nighthawks of the now defunct United Football League – Putzier's life began to unravel cognitively, emotionally and physically a couple years after he stopped playing.
Like so many former NFL players, Putzier went through a marital divorce. Extreme, inexplicable fatigue would not allow him to hold down a 9 to 5 job. He suffered from depression.
And his condition only got worse. Much worse.
"I had been through a lot of hardships in life where I was pretty much done with it – I just wasn't myself," he said. "Everyone saw the 180 in my personality from where I was. I had been in the hospital for suicidal things. Different problems. I just acted differently."
To the rescue came CereScan, a state-of-the-art functional brain imaging company based in the Littleton. CereScan is capable of detecting injuries to the brain that otherwise don't show up through the usual X-Rays, MRIs or CT scans.
"The type of brain scanning we do makes the invisible injury visible," said Dr. Greg Hipskind, the chief medical advisor of CereScan.
CereScan has treated more than 20 former NFL players, including Hall of Fame offensive lineman Ron Yary and former University of Colorado and New England Patriot linebacker Ted Johnson.
It was determined Putzier's problems were caused by the residual effects of concussions and cortisone shots.
"Jeb is an interesting case because I don't think any one specific injury – he might be able to relate one of his brain injuries was more serious than any other but in his case it was probably repetitiveness," Hipskind said. "Numerous smaller injuries which did not have the benefit of the new (NFL) protocols."
How many concussions did Putzier receive?
"Over 1,000," he said.
Say, what? There have been numerous stories about former NFL players who have suffered years later from repeated concussions. But those stories refer to two or three concussions, maybe six or seven. Brandon Stokley, who played 15 years in the NFL as a slot receiver, reportedly suffered 13 concussions.
But a player suffering more than 1,000 concussions?
"My old teammates when they get asked that question will say two or three," Putzier said. "I explain to them every time you saw stars or were lightheaded from a hit, that's a concussion. And everyone says, "Well that's every day at work."'
Putzier now undergoes daily infrared laser treatments to the skull. He also goes through eyeball movement therapy which helps put the brain cells back in sync. His condition has markedly improved, although a three-hour talk show shift on 850 KOA-AM radio will drain him to where he has to immediately lie down for several hours.
Chronic fatigue may have been partially caused by the numerous cortisone and Toradol injections Putzier took throughout his career. Some teams administer them the day before a game; others the day of. The point is, pain shots are a common practice in the NFL.
"You just line up and doctors come by and shoot you up," Putzier said. "It's great when you're young and you don't know better. Other guys do it and all the sudden you feel great. But now looking back …"
What Putzier didn't realize then is the human body naturally produces cortisol through the adrenal glands. This cortisol goes through the bloodstream and winds up at its production control center in the brain.
"If those cortisol levels in your bloodstream are high, it turns off your brain signals to make more," Hipskind said. "When that signal remains off for a long time it's hard for it to restart."
NFL called out for handling of brain injuries
The NFL denied the long-term negative health effects of multiple concussions – and there is denying the denials as its commissioners and medical leaders are on record – until after a congressional hearing in October 2009. During the hearing, commissioner Roger Goodell was sharply criticized for not doing enough to address his league's problem with brain injuries.
One congressperson, Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), likened the NFL's stance on brain injuries to the tobacco industry's long-held testimony that there was no scientific evidence to suggest smoking is linked to long-term health problems.
Not so coincidentally, one month after it was embarrassed by Congress, the NFL changed the leadership of its Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) committee. And two months later, the league announced stricter return-to-play guidelines for players shaken up during a game.
In 2010, the NFL started enforcing penalties against any type of hit near the head. In 2011, it moved the kickoff line up to increase the number of touchbacks and in turn decrease the dangerous, kickoff returns. Stricter concussion protocols were enforced starting in 2013.
All of this was too late for Putzier, who was NFL career ended when he was cut by then Broncos coach Josh McDaniels from training camp in 2009.
"They're making progress but we need to go further," Hipskind said. "A, changes in the game itself, changes in the equipment, changes in the technique that are preventative."
Specifically, Hipskind would like to see better tackling techniques.
"Rugby practices the Pete Carroll method of tackling," he said. "Which is not with your helmet, but with your shoulder. Of course, we hate the Seahawks around here but when you talk about why their defense is so good, part of the reason is they tackle different than other people."
In fairness to the NFL, it has been legislating the helmet out of the game through its rule changes. Hipskind also says the sideline-baseline protocols need to be more aggressive in the testing and more conservative in its conclusions.
But even with independent doctors on every sideline, baseline testing is vulnerable to compromise in the pursuit of victory. More than 100 million viewers saw New England receiver Julian Edelman get dazed with a forearm to the head delivered by Seattle safety Kam Chancellor early in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 49. Edelman stayed in the game and caught the Super Bowl-winning touchdown pass with 2:02 remaining.
"And then C, is interventions," Hipskind said. "Therapeutic interventions that have shown to actually heal or reverse those cellular processes that are going on. Such as hyperbaric oxygen, such as infrared light therapy. There are some new novel treatments that have been scientifically proven to reverse those cellular changes that were not visible initially on an MRI."
Hipskind made it clear he does not want to scare people away from football or outlaw the sport.
"In fact our company is submitting a paper for publication on a treatment that actually reverses brain damage," he said.
Given a do-over, Putzier would not play football
It was after 9News approached Putzier that he agreed to tell his story. He decided to open up in hopes of bringing more awareness to the delayed and long-term effects from brain injuries, and also to let patients know help is available. Besides former NFL players, CereScan works worth with numerous military personnel.
Although Putzier was among the 4,500-plus former players who collectively filed suit against the NFL for concussion damages, he regrets it. Not because the monetary damages from the split of the $1 billion settlement (an average of $190,000 per player) will be inadequate compared to his needs. Unlike many former players, Putzier has avoided most – not all, but most -- of the common financial pratfalls.
"I'm still doing fine," he said. "I mean my ex-wife is doing amazing. That's how it goes with most of the guys."
What torques Putzier about the settlement is the NFL did not have to admit guilt or liability regarding the game's brain injury issue.
Putzier understands his story may come with some backlash. After all, he chose football as his occupation, not insurance. Everyone knows from childhood that football is a rough, tough, physical sport. Play it and eventually injuries happen.
And the players sign up for it, anyway.
"They did not sign up for permanent brain damage," Hipskind said.
Putzier, Hipskind said, has improved dramatically the past two years. But just like a broken bone never feels quite the same after it otherwise heals, just like a surgically repaired knee knows when the weather is about to change, Putzier will never be fully recovered.
"I'm getting back there," Putzier said. "I'm just not what I was."
If he had to do it all over again, would he, like virtually every other former player has said, choose to play football again knowing of the long-term repercussions?
"I used to answer it the first couple years after I retired by saying I would," Putzier said. "But now I say, 'no.'''
(© 2015 KUSA)
