In an interview with NBC 5 Chicago, former NFL player who turned into a WWE announcer Mike Adamle revealed that he has been diagnosed with dementia and doctors believe he also suffers from CTE – Chronic Traumatic Encephelopathy. CTE cannot be 100% proven until post mortem.
Adamle also suffers from seizures and epilepsy, and Dr. Michael Smith of Rush University, said that his seizures are post-traumatic epilepsy, attributed in large part to his football career.
During the sit-down interview with NBC 5, a place where he worked before going on medical leave, Adamle described the effects of dementia that he suffers from. “Here’s what happens. You come over and you can do an interview with me and you’ll leave and I’ll say, ‘Oh God who is that?'” Adamle told Peggy Kusinski who was conducting the interview. “Watching a movie last night – this happened last night – five seconds into it, I’ll say ‘What are we watching?'”
The progression of his condition has been fast and has prevented him from working and driving. Adamle now walks around with a fanny pack containing his ID, house keys and phone, just in case he gets lost or doesn’t remember.
After a successful NFL and broadcast career, Adamle joined WWE in January 2008 as a Raw interviewer. He was mocked for making several mistakes on air, especially his first live broadcast when he called Jeff Hardy by the name of Jeff Harvey during the Royal Rumble. He replaced Joey Styles on ECW on the announce team, teaming up with Taz. Later that year, Adamle was named as the Raw General Manager, but left the company a few months after that.
You can see part one of the heartbreaking interview at http://bit.ly/2kP0HP4.
