BMX Legend Dave Mirra has been diagnosed with CTE.
On February 4th, the action sports community was shocked to find out that Mirra had taken his own life.
In a sit down interview with ESPN, Dave Mirra’s wife, Lauren, gives details to how Mirra’s behavior and mood had changed.
Some of the excerpts from the interview are below.
When did you first notice his behavior change?
He was always a really intense person. His intensity just started to increase. For sure last summer, I started to notice changes in his mood. And then it quickly started to get worse. The last couple months before he died were really intense, and then, of course, the last couple weeks were hard. We didn’t know what we were dealing with.Was he experiencing other symptoms?
Fatigue, definitely, both physically and emotionally. And forgetfulness, moodiness. He would repeat conversations and topics to the point where it was obvious to the person he was talking to but not to him. He would dwell on a subject and not want to move on from it.
Lauren Mirra was very candid and gave detailed responses to how Dave’s behavior had changed. It gives us all a little insight. Both her and Dave knew something was wrong and were trying to figure it out.
Dave Mirra is the first action sports athlete to be diagnosed with CTE.
CTE can only be diagnosed when you’re dead. Maybe as we do more research, we’ll be able to detect something while that person is living.
It’s sad to know someone was suffering from doing something they loved.
