Ex-WWE Superstar Rob Van Dam will join the growing list of athletes who plan to donate their brains to research for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) after their deaths.
Van Dam made the announcement during an appearance on The Taz Show podcast.
“I’ve donated my brain and spine to the [CTE] study,” he said. “I used to tell Chris Nowinski that I thought there was a correlation between THC and brains being protected from concussion damage.”
I’ve had hundreds and hundreds of concussions but I don’t think that I have any permanent damage. A lot of my peers do. A lot of my friends say ‘oh yeah, I space out’ or ‘see lights’ or this and that. … Chris [Nowinski] said ‘you know what, you’re probably on to something, but it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars before even start the study.’ … So anyway, now NFL is all over it.
Van Dam talked about the many concussions he’s suffered over the years, but thanked marijuana for helping him avoid any long-term effects from his concussion.