article_snippet: Dave Duerson had sent a text to Dave Duerson family asking that Dave Duerson brain be sent to Boston University School of Medicine, which was researching CTE.
article_snippet: BU neurologists confirmed the NFL veteran had the disease.
article_snippet: Easterling, who played eight seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, committed suicide in 2012.
article_snippet: former NFL linebacker Junior Seau was 43 when former NFL linebacker Junior Seau was found dead with a gunshot wound to the chest.
article_snippet: Friends and family members say multiple concussions were to blame for suicide, but an initial autopsy report found no apparent brain damage.
article_snippet: Portions of Seau's brain were sent to the National Institutes of Health, which found "abnormalities ... that are consistent with a form" of CTE.
article_snippet: At least 261 were diagnosed the previous year, NFL said.