Chris Benoit’s Brain Resembled That of an 85-Year Old Alzheimers Patient

Test were performed on professional wrestler Chris Benoit’s brain after he murdered his family then killed himself.

Many thought steroids were a contributing factor as they were found at the scene and are a common problem among wrestlers. But his family believed there could be something more that drove him to commit such a heinous act.

The tests were performed by Julian Bailes of the Sports Legacy Institute. He claims the tests show that Benoit’s brain was so insanely damaged it “resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient.”

He states that the brain damage was caused by ‘chronic concussions‘ and repetitive head trauma suffered during the time which Benoit was a professional wrestler.

Michael Benoit, Chris’ father, remembers Chris fondly and has a hard time understanding how it all happened.

“First we needed an understanding. The person that did this is not the man we know and love,” Michael said today on “Good Morning America.”

Not long after the terrible event a former wrestler, name unknown, got a hold of Michael and told him that he should look into the possibility that brain damage played a part.

“I was grasping for anything,” Michael told ABC News’ Bob Woodruff. “The world was very black. I mean, we didn’t even know how to deal with this.”

At the family’s request Bailes took samples from Benoit’s brain and compared his microscopic brain scans to those of a healthy brain.

From ABC.com:

“They found that Benoit’s brain showed an advanced form of dementia that appears on the brain scan as brown clumps or tangles. These brown spots are actually dead brain cells, killed off as a result of head trauma, said Bailes. In Benoit’s case, the damage was found in every section of the brain — all four lobes and deep into the brain stem.

“It was extensive throughout Chris’ brain,” Bailes said. “This is something you should never see in a 40-year-old.”

The damage is proof, Bailes said, that Benoit suffered multiple, probably chronic, concussions over the course of many years.

Benoit, in fact, told friends he had suffered “more concussions than he could count.”

Benoit’s brain showed the same kind of damage Bailes and his team found in four retired NFL players who also suffered multiple concussions and later sank into deep depressions and harmed themselves or others.

Perhaps most disturbing, a person doesn’t need to have sustained dozens of concussions to see problems later in life.

“Our research shows that three concussions may be the threshold for lasting damage,” Bailes said.”

This kind of brain damage isn’t new to athletes, but doctors and researchers are starting to understand it better. As far back as the 1920s, career boxers were diagnosed with “punch drunk syndrome,” which is now known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Bailes said that while he can’t be certain that the brain damage caused Benoit’s actions, he believes it is the leading cause.”