{"id":13383,"date":"2017-02-07T22:30:01","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T04:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=13383"},"modified":"2017-02-07T22:43:48","modified_gmt":"2017-02-08T04:43:48","slug":"brain-disease-shook-world-nbc-5s-mike-adamle-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2017\/02\/07\/brain-disease-shook-world-nbc-5s-mike-adamle-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Brain disease \u2018shook my world,\u2019 NBC 5\u2019s Mike Adamle says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> Mike Adamle (Photo: NBC Chicago)<\/p><\/div>\n

Mike Adamle\u2019s football career brought him fame, glory and a disease that could cost him everything.<\/p>\n

The 67-year-old Adamle, who played for the Chicago Bears and Northwestern Wildcats, has disclosed he's been diagnosed with dementia, the final stage of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease doctors attribute to repeated concussions and other head injuries on the field. Doctors also say football likely caused the epilepsy he has fought for 19 years.<\/p>\n

Since last March Adamle has been on personal leave <\/a>from his job as sports anchor at WMAQ-Channel 5.<\/a> Any chance that he\u2019ll return to broadcasting was dispelled Tuesday in the first of a two-part interview<\/a> that aired on the NBC-owned station.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shook my world,\u201d Adamle told NBC 5 colleague Peggy Kusinski of his struggle, \u201cand it just got kind of a little bit worse sometimes every day.\u201d While CTE cannot be diagnosed with certainty until after a person's death, Adamle shows every sign of the illness, Kusinski said, including what he acknowledged were frequent mood swings, episodes of rage, depression and anxiety. \u201cI think that they kind of go hand in hand,\u201d he said of the latter two symptoms.<\/p>\n

Kusinski reported that Adamle no longer can work or drive a car. \u201cHe wears a fanny pack with his ID, house keys and phone just in case he gets lost or can\u2019t remember where he\u2019s going,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Adamle told her: \u201cHere\u2019s what happens: You come over, you could do an interview with me, and you\u2019ll leave, and I\u2019ll say: \u2018Oh god, who is that, you know?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

The decision to speak out at this time was Adamle\u2019s alone, according to multiple sources, and was not tied to the Nielsen rating sweep, which began February 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike has not been ready to publicly discuss his illness until now,\u201d said Frank Whittaker, station manager and vice president of news at NBC 5. \u201cHe\u2019s coming forward now to explain his illness, and hopefully help others in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ohio native and son of Cleveland Browns player Tony Adamle was an All-American running back for Northwestern and spent seven seasons in the NFL, where he played for the Bears, Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets.<\/p>\n

After retiring from the NFL in 1977, Adamle turned to television, including two stints at NBC 5 (the first starting in 1998 and the latest since 2004). In addition to working for ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7 and CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2, he also reported for NBC Sports, ABC Sports and ESPN, and hosted World Wrestling Entertainment and the syndicated \u201cAmerican Gladiators.\u201d<\/p>\n

How difficult is it for the former pro athlete and Iron Man competitor to deal with the challenges he faces now? Said Adamle: \u201cWell, the only way that I can extend, you know, my life and be around to see my daughters get married and, you know, live happily ever after with your wife, I want to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mike Adamle\u2019s football career brought him fame, glory and a disease that could cost him everything. The 67-year-old Adamle, who played for the Chicago Bears and Northwestern Wildcats, has disclosed he's been diagnosed with dementia, the final stage of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease doctors attribute to repeated concussions and other head... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13383"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13383"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13392,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13383\/revisions\/13392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}