Frank Gifford’s widow, Kathie Lee Gifford and son open up about NFL legend’s struggle with CTE

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: NFL great Frank Gifford's widow, Kathie Lee Gifford, along with their son Cody, are supporting the commercial release of the moving documentary 'Requiem for a Running Back'.

The film delves into the effects of the brain disease, known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, which was the cause of Frank's death.

Frank Gifford's son said, "The NFL gave my father a life. But at the same time, there were dangers," as reported by People.

Frank Gifford 'had forgotten everything'

On one of their last nights together, Cody says, “In the span of one minute or two minutes…he had forgotten everything I had just said.”

Cody remembers the first time he watched the 2017 independent film 'Requiem for a Running Back', which features Frank and is about fellow football player and CTE sufferer Lewis Carpenter. "I just let out a big sigh. It struck me all the similarities these guys had gone through."

Cody went up to Rebecca Carpenter, the director of the documentary, and Lewis Carpenter's daughter. He asked her, "How can we help direct traffic to this?"

The documentary will debut in a commercial setting on December 1 on Amazon, Google YouTube, and Apple iTunes thanks to funding provided by Cody. To raise awareness about CTE among athletes and their families, he and Kathie Lee hope it will be seen by a larger audience.

The startling findings of a recent study that examined the brains of 152 young athletes who were under 30 years old when they passed away and had been subjected to repeated head impacts, were revealed in August by medical professionals from Boston University's CTE Center.

The study found that slightly over 41% of the sample "had neuropathological evidence of CTE". In comparison, less than 1% of the general population suffers from CTE.

"A progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic non-concussive hits to the head," is how the center describes CTE. The aforementioned brain degeneration is linked to various symptoms such as memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, aggression, depression, and ultimately progressive dementia.

Kathie Lee and Cody pledge to create awareness about CTE

After witnessing Frank's brain scan, Kathie Lee claims that she has never been the same. “It was heartbreaking to look at it,” says Kathie Lee, who shares that Frank’s CTE was at a stage 4 on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being most severe.

"We found damage to the hippocampus, which is the center for short-term memory…it’s the cumulative aggregate blows that you take over a lifetime.”

Even though Cody joined the University of Southern California team and left after a "lackluster career", he somewhat followed in his father's footsteps. However, he is now more aware of the risks than ever.

“It’s an intoxicating thing if you grow up loving football your entire life,” he says. “I lived it and breathed it. It’s hard to walk away.”

The mother and son both pledge to spread the word about what they know about CTE in the hope that treatment and prevention will be available.

Kathie Lee says, “Nobody would care more about people and kids being hurt than Frank would have.”