Former Saints safety Rob Kelly and his family dealing with post-career C.T.E. effects

Rob Kelly, a former Saints safety for four years in the late 1990’s, is another retired NFL player saddled with the effects of brain damage from playing the game.

His wife Emily Kelly has written an in-depth piece for the New York Times about her husband’s issues and her family’s struggles in years since his playing career ended in 2002.

He went from being a devoted and loving father and husband to someone who felt like a ghost in our home. For a couple of months one winter he was so depressed and detached, he couldn’t muster up the energy to speak. My questions went unanswered until I simply stopped asking them. The silence was unnerving.

Read more here.