Kyle Raarup

Kyle loved all sports, all his life. He played as much and as many sports as he possibly could, with football and hockey being his favorites. He was a fiercely competitive and driven athlete. He was naturally gifted with speed, agility, and great eye-hand coordination. He was a running back for football, offensive player in hockey, and could play any position he was put in for baseball. Kyle loved it all and loved the friendships that playing sports offered him.

As it is with any dedicated athlete, Kyle was hit many times with only minor injuries. Concussions, in our mind, happened when you got knocked out from a hit, or got your “bell rung”. As the injuries continued and we became more informed about concussions we realized that Kyle had suffered many minor concussions from about 4th grade on. It wasn’t until Kyle was in 8th grade and experienced a check from behind into the boards in hockey when he started having lasting symptoms that we could not control. He waited the recommended two weeks before playing again, only to be hit from behind again when he returned to play. This time he had such severe headaches and other symptoms that he was unable to return to sports or school. Each bump to his head after that caused increasingly severe symptoms for an extended amount of time.

Over the years of seeing innumerable doctors and other medical professionals, Kyle was diagnosed with post concussive syndrome. While it was nice to have a name for what he was going through, Kyle wanted something that would help his symptoms. This seemed to be an elusive goal. He was a trooper and tried every therapy, testing, medication, vitamin, whatever we could find to try to alleviate the pain and memory/thinking difficulties he was experiencing. None worked well, which was a source of great frustration to Kyle. He wanted his brain to go back to normal.

Kyle was able to attend college where he flourished with the assistance of the student services program that allowed him accommodations for his anxiety and inability to handle a lot of sensory input during testing. Kyle loved college and the friends he made there. He was outgoing, cheerful, energetic, and fun to be around. His continued struggles with his anxiety/depression, memory problems and a new stomach ailment overwhelmed him and he took his life on 11/12/15. His brain was donated to the Boston University CTE study in order to find out the answer to his nagging question “what’s wrong with my brain and why can’t it be fixed?”

In December 2016, we found out that Kyle was diagnosed with Stage I CTE along with some brain abnormalities (micro hemorrhages and hippocampus damage) that helped his family get some answers to that nagging question of “what was going on in his brain?” His suicide and the Boston University brain study has helped raise awareness in our community of the lasting impact that concussions can have on the life of a young adult. The loss of a child, brother and friend to many has hit us all hard and will be something that we struggle with for a long time. We are grateful to the Concussion Legacy Foundation for their research and to finally give us some answers, and for their efforts to continue to find answers for future athletes. Kyle would be proud to be a part of this important research and the continued efforts made to understand the devastating affects concussions have on young lives.

We miss him every day, but are proud of who Kyle was and how he has helped us and others understand mental illness and concussions.

Watch: Kyle’s Story: Minnesota Family Raising Awareness About CTE

James Rahal

Jim played high school football in Belmont, MA. At the beginning of his senior year he sustained a concussion which left him in a coma for two days. Although that ended his football-playing days, he went on to play baseball for Harvard during his undergraduate years, and was a lifelong recreational tennis player.

Jim’s professional work was in academic medicine. He served as chief of Infectious Diseases at both NYU/VA Medical Center in Manhattan and New York Hospital/Queens from the early 1970s until just a few months before he died. He developed an international reputation for his original clinical research in his field.

In 2002 he underwent neurosurgery for a brain tumor, which was diagnosed as Rosai-Dorfman Disease, an extremely rare condition. Although he returned to work and functioned well for several years, he began to decline; it began with a seizure in 2008 and then subtle, but increasingly apparent, changes in mood and affect, as well as difficulty with mobility.

Although his death was attributed to complications from Rosai-Dorfman Disease, his wife Barbara contacted Chris Nowinski and Dr. Robert Cantu at the Concussion Legacy Foundation, asking them to consider his case because of his high school football concussion history, as well as two or three head injuries he had sustained in auto accidents as an adult.

Dustin Rees

Dustin Lee Rees was a very charismatic and outgoing person, who loved trying and exploring new things. Born on January 17, 1979 in Jackson, Missouri, he never met a stranger wherever he went and was a loyal friend to everyone. He had a passion for the outdoors, whether riding his BMW adventure motorcycle, biking, fishing, or camping, in addition to playing guitar. Dustin also had a keen interest in electronics and learning about new technologies. He would spend countless hours researching the best gadgets for any adventure and how they could be made even better.

Dustin had a distinguished military career, serving in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2000 to 2003 and the Missouri Army National Guard from 2004 to 2019. He deployed three times during his nearly 20 years of service. Dustin was part of the initial invasion into Iraq in 2003-2004 with the U.S. Marine Corps, served in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005-2006 with the 110th Engineers Battalion, and participated in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2012-2013 with the 1138th Engineering Company. His bravery and dedication earned him numerous awards, including two Bronze Stars and a Meritorious Service Medal.

Before his death, Dustin was pursuing his electrical engineering degree at the University of Colorado – Denver. He was a graduate of Jackson High School.

Dustin passed away on July 20, 2023 at the age of 44. He is survived by his loving wife, Michelle Rees, of Centennial, Colorado; two sons, Sammy Rees, his wife Holly Rees and daughter Margaux, and Hunter Rees, his wife Zoe Rees, all of Jackson, Missouri. He is also survived by his brothers, Tyler Rees and Kyle Rees; his father, Danny Rees; mother, Sandra Dee Kasten (Boyd); and grandfather, Don Rees, all of Cape Girardeau and Jackson, Missouri.

Dustin will be deeply missed by his family, friends, and all who had the privilege of knowing him. May his memory live on in our hearts forever.

Leo Reherman

Leo was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on the 4th of July in 1966. He went on to star for Saint Agnes Grade School and Saint Xavier High School, both in Louisville. His academic and athletic success led him to Cornell University.

 

Wearing number 76, Leo thrived as an offensive lineman for the Big Red from ’85-’88. He was a co-captain of the team his senior year and earned All-Ivy League distinction twice. He tried out for the Miami Dolphins after graduation, but decided to retire from football and head to UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, where he received his MBA.

Leo picked up acting while in Los Angeles and scored his big break in 1993 when he earned the role of “Hawk” on TV’s “American Gladiators.”  He played “Hawk” through the show’s finale in 1996. Over the next 20 years, he built out an impressive IMDB page of acting, producing, and hosting credits for hit shows such as “Gilmore Girls”, “The X-Files”, “The Shield”, “NCIS”, “Prison Break”, “General Hospital”, and the hit motion picture, “Downhill Willie.” While there was talk of Leo receiving an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Hans Saxer in “Downhill Willie”, he was unfortunately snubbed by the Academy.

In his mid-40’s, Leo started expressing to his family and friends his issues with memory, depression, irritability, and overall frustration with his declining health. He told loved ones he wished for his brain to be donated to the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank upon his death, as he thought he may have CTE. Leo was very familiar with CTE due to the loss of his friend and Cornell teammate Tom McHale, and his friendship with Lisa McHale, Tom’s wife.

Leo was found dead at his home on February 29, 2016, just a few months shy of his 50th birthday. His family fulfilled his wish and sent his brain to the Brain Bank for research. There, researchers diagnosed him with Stage 2 (of 2) CTE.

CTE has affected many of Leo’s former teammates, opponents, and professional colleagues.

As noted, Leo was teammates with Tom McHale, a former All-American defensive lineman for Cornell, who played nine years in the NFL. McHale died in 2008 at age 45 and was the second former NFL player to be diagnosed with CTE by researchers at the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank. “American Gladiators” was hosted by former NFL player Mike Adamle. In 2017, Adamle went public with his diagnosis of dementia, likely due to CTE.

Leo began playing tackle football at the age of 10. In May 2018, Brain Bank scientists published in Annals of Neurology that among 211 football players diagnosed with CTE, those who began playing tackle football before age 12 had an earlier onset of symptoms by an average of 13 years, independent of concussion history.

CLF launched its Flag Football Under 14 campaign in early 2018 to educate parents on the effects of youth tackle football and to advocate children under 14 play flag football. Lee Reherman Sr., who played college football at Notre Dame, wholeheartedly agrees.

“CTE is not just an issue affecting professional football players,” said Reherman Sr. in 2018. “We hope that by announcing Lee’s diagnosis, we can drive more awareness of the need for CTE research at all levels, and encourage parents to delay enrolling their children in tackle football until high school.”