Brain trauma doesn’t only affect the athlete. It can reshape a marriage, a family, and the life of the person standing beside them.

What does it really mean to care for someone living with the long-term effects of repeated head impacts and brain trauma?

In this deeply personal episode of the HeadRush Podcast, Paul Frase and Corey Berry are joined by Corey’s wife, Susan Berry, and Brandi Winans, wife of former NFL player Jeff Winans, for an honest conversation about the side of brain trauma that is too often overlooked: the caregiver.

Susan shares what nearly 27 years beside Corey has looked like through cognitive changes, frightening neurological episodes, anger, memory loss, isolation, and his eventual diagnosis of Traumatic Encephalopathy Syndrome (TES). Brandi reflects on decades beside Jeff as his physical and neurocognitive health declined, as well as the advocacy work that grew from her family's experience.

Together, they talk candidly about caregiver exhaustion, walking on eggshells, raising children around neurological changes, protecting relationships, asking for help, finding support groups, and staying connected to the person you love while brain trauma changes life around you.

This episode refresh isn't simply about professional athletes. It is about spouses, parents, children, veterans, first responders, and families trying to understand what may be happening to someone they love.

Because awareness can change how a family responds.

And caregivers need support too.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

• Patrick Risha CTE Awareness Foundation — Raising awareness about the dangers of repeated head impacts and helping families understand, live with, and prevent CTE.

• Millennium Health Centers — Supporting brain health through the Millennium Protocol and its work addressing neuroinflammation and hormone disruption.

• Paradise Behavioral Health — BrainWell Program — Providing individualized support for brain health, mental health, and neurological wellness.

• MC Wellness — Cristal Clark, MA, LPC-S

• Ambio Life Sciences — Advancing exploration of ibogaine and its potential applications involving neurological health.

• Vielight, Inc. — Advancing photobiomodulation technology for brain health and wellness.
Use discount code HEADRUSHVL when purchasing from Vielight.

Thank you to every organization helping HeadRush continue the conversation around brain trauma, research, treatment, education, and hope.

HeadRush Podcast — Brain Trauma. Brain Health. Hope.