Help Brandon raise money

If you know me, you know I love Husky football. I don't hide it very well. At least 40% of my wardrobe is UW-related and in high school, that percentage was closer to 100% than I'd like to admit. I loved Husky football so much that I couldn't fathom going anywhere but UW for college, and the people I met and the experiences I had at UW are foundational to my identity. 

I still love Husky football and I hope I always will. That photo up and to the right of this is of me and my dad this past fall before the UW/Michigan game in Ann Arbor. We're beaming. But football, the game, is hard to love in the same way anymore. 

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a degenerative brain disease caused by repetitive head trauma that can currently only be diagnosed after death. CTE has been diagnosed in hundreds of former football players. In my nearly five years at the Concussion Legacy Foundation, I've spent countless hours reading stories about the nightmares of CTE and hearing from families who've lost brothers, husbands, fathers, and sons to its devastating effects. 

I'll never forget the pit in my stomach I had when I learned Daniel Te'o-Nesheim was diagnosed with CTE in 2018. Daniel, or DTN, was one of the lone stars among some very dull Husky teams in the late 2000's. I idolized big #66 and was lucky enough to high-five his massive mitt on the field after UW upset USC in 2009. His unexpected death in 2017 at age 30 and diagnosis a year later hit me as hard as Daniel hit dozens of Pac-10 QBs coming off the edge. 

Football isn't going anywhere, and neither is CTE. It will continue to affect our favorite players of our favorite sport. Repetitive head trauma causes the disease and repetitive head trauma is fundamental to football. That sounds bleak, but there is hope we can beat football's biggest opponent and end CTE. I work with the amazing people at CLF and at the Brain Bank who are making it happen. 

As part of CLF's Race to End CTE, I'm running 6.6 miles on Saturday, May 21 in honor of Daniel Te'o-Nesheim and other former Huskies who we've lost to CTE and the others who are currently living with the disease. 

I'm hoping to raise $1,066 before my run. Your donation will go towards CLF's CTE prevention programs and towards research that gets us closer to diagnosing CTE in living people so we can develop treatments and, eventually, a cure for the disease. 

For every $66 that gets donated, I'll post another childhood photo of me in UW gear. That's 17 photos, folks, and many of them contain outrageous, late 90's / early 2000's mullet energy. 

If you donate $66 or more, you may indicate "Bow Down" in your donation comment to receive a video of me singing the UW fight song. 

Photo #1 ($66):

Photo #2 ($132):

Photo #3 ($198):

Photo #4 ($264)

Photo #5 ($330)

Photo #6 ($396)

Photo #7 ($462)

Photo #8 ($528)

Photo #9 ($594)

Photo #10 ($660)

Photo #11 ($722)

Photo #12 ($788)

Photo #13 ($854)

Photo #14 ($920)

Photo #15 ($988)

Photo #16 ($1,054)