In life, Aaron Hernandez weighed a muscular 240 pounds.
In death, the most important part of his body was 3½ pounds.
That was the approximate weight of the former New England Patriots player’s
brain, which was removed by a Boston coroner soon after Hernandez hanged
himself in prison on April 19, 2017. It was then quietly transported to
a laboratory about 25 miles north of the city.
To avoid public attention, the brain was brought into Dr. Ann McKee’s
research lab through an underground tunnel system. Only three people there
knew whose brain was being carefully cut into slices, stained with a special
protein-detecting dye, and scrutinized under a microscope.
The results of their examination raised a painful question about America’s
most popular sport: Is football fundamentally dangerous?
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