One concern I frequently think about is how the press portrays CTE. The press represents CTE as a disease that primarily affects adults. While it’s true that most cases are men who have committed suicide, violent acts, or have shown significant cognitive degeneration...

This week I received a video from a close friend showing a child being concussed by a violent hit on the football field. The video represents everything that we are trying to get parents to understand about concussive and sub-concussive trauma and to prevent their...

Throughout the journey since Mac passed, we have gained more and more awareness of the real dangers facing our kids. Everyone focuses on concussions and for a good reason. Concussions are immediately diagnosed; they hurt our kids, and they are shocking to watch. The...

A few months ago, this foundation played a key role in the outlining of new protocols for Special Operations soldiers that are suffering untimely deaths. Here, a Special Forces soldier left behind his family with little sign that he was struggling. Conversations with...

I was with my wife at a spa where they stretch you, a good thing for an old man. An athletic man was helping me. We started talking about sports, and I told Mac’s story. He started asking questions and told me I was bringing tears to his eyes. This man had to quit...

Not too long ago, we shared Mac’s story with some adolescents undergoing rehabilitation for substance abuse. One of them approached our speaker and informed her he had tried to take his life for the 4th time and had been told all his life that he had psychological...

The other day I was talking to a therapist who has been keeping track of me as I deal with grief with Mac’s departure. As I told the story of Mac and the Foundation, she told me that, until she met me, she was completely unaware that CTE could be a cause of...

Last week I was skiing in Breckenridge where Mac and I went so often. I had this crazy idea that I should bring my bagpipes to the top of the Imperial Chairlift, which is the highest in North America. However, I didn’t know if my bagpipes would play that high. On two...

The other day I was saying goodnight to Mac as usual by playing the bagpipes at sunset at the Rod and Reel Pier here on Anna Maria Island. As I was playing one of the dads on the pier with his kids came up to me and we talked. I told him the reason I was playing and...