The Canadian Sports Concussion Project will study the brain of former Stampeder and Calgary businessman John Forzani to help better understand the changes in the brain that may occur due to multiple concussions.
Forzani died in a California hospital on Friday at the age of 67 after suffering a heart attack.
Basil Bark met John Forzani in 1970 and says Forzani decided several years ago that donating his brain to science would be worthwhile.
Forzani was an offensive lineman with the Stampeders for six seasons and Bark says Forzani suffered several concussions during his playing years.
"I remember one game John got hit hard and his helmet broke. We didn’t have another one so he continued to play with it. He was glassy-eyed after the game and who knows what the effects were? I knew John for 47 years and everything seemed fine. But his brain should be examined,” said Bark.
The Canadian Sports Concussion Project is being led by Dr. Charles Tator and is based out of the Krembil Neuroscience Centre at Toronto Western Hospital.
Dr. Tator says the donation is a very generous gift by the family and that Forzani’s stature both on and off the field will help raise the profile for this kind of research.
“Somebody like John Forzani, who was a great player and then he was a great business person and community person, it’s even more important to get that whole spectrum,” said Dr. Tator, adding the position Forzani played is also significant to the study.
“That makes this donation even more important because there is a suspicion that linemen take even more hits to the head and it is the mechanism of repetitive hits to the head that we are very worried about,” he said.
The goal of the project is to examine the possible correlation between repeated concussions and late deterioration of brain function and to improve the diagnosis and treatment of brain injuries.
In May 2013, the project published its findings on the first six autopsied brains of former CFL players in a well-known medical journal and found that three of the six had acquired Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
The findings also showed that the three other players without CTE suffered pathological diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Parkinson's disease.
Researchers say these findings show how important it is to continue this vein of study.
A number of other professional athletes have also committed their brains to the project.
CFL Hall of Famer Matt Dunigan also suffered concussions during his time on the field and has said he will donate his brain to the project when the time comes.
For more information on the Canadian Sports Concussion Project and brain donation, click HERE.
(With files from The Canadian Press and TSN.ca)
