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A Navy SEAL was convinced exposure to blasts damaged his brain, so he donated it to science to prove it (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave to c/health

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“We’re really at an infant stage in terms of our clinical ability to assess traumatic brain injury,” a medical expert said.

Before he ended his life, Ryan Larkin made his family promise to donate his brain to science.

The 29-year-old Navy SEAL was convinced years of exposure to blasts had badly damaged his brain, despite doctors telling him otherwise. He had downloaded dozens of research papers on traumatic brain injury out of frustration that no one was taking him seriously, his father said.

“He knew,” Frank Larkin said. “I’ve grown to understand that he was out to prove that he was hurt, and he wasn’t crazy.”

In 2017, a postmortem study found that Ryan Larkin, a combat medic and instructor who taught SEALs how to breach buildings with explosives, had a pattern of brain scarring unique to service members who’ve endured repeated explosions.

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[–] phoneymouse 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah… it definitely sucks, but explains what was going on and why the guy seemed to lose his mind.

I wonder how much longer we’ll see people playing sports like football or UFC as brain trauma becomes better understood.

[–] Tolstoshev 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That’s a good question as sports are ingrained and you can’t take away people’s tribal entertainment without consequences. Panem et circenses and all that.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

But we can switch to things like tennis or fortnite which don't carry the risk - knowing that just from training your kid could get brain damage wouldn't you try to encourage them into something safer?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago

I tried watching some Fortnite streamers, pretty sure it left me with more brain damage than my two deployments.