PITTSBURGH - There's a new movie out, Concussion, starring Will Smith that tells the story of the doctor who first made the link between repeated hits to the head suffered by NFL players that can result in severe brain damage that manifest in symptoms including dementia, depression, anger problems, and confused thinking.
Dr. Bennet Omalu named the condition CTE, which can only be diagnosed as part of an autopsy.
West Seneca native, and former Pittsburgh Steeler lineman, Justin Strzelczyk was one of the first former players diagnosed with CTE by Dr. Omalu.
Back in 2006, Keana Strzelczyk had this to say about the bizarre death of her former husband Justin.
"I wish I could talk to him, I wish I could find out what happened that day, but I'll never, never know."
On a fall day in 2004, following years of increasingly troubling behavior, Justin had driven the wrong way on the Thruway for miles before crashing into a tanker truck. He was dead at the age of 36.
In 2007, all of Keana's questions would be answered when Justin's brain was examined by Dr. Omalu.
The Justin who died that day on the Thruway was nothing like the man that Keana had met 12 years earlier in Pittsburgh and fell in love with.
That Justin was a fun-loving, guitar-playing, gentle, grizzly bear of a man.
"He didn't take life too seriously but seriously enough, he was responsible. We always had fun together, we'd come up to Buffalo for the weekend and hang out with his friends and go to the lake, just a lot of fun," said Keena.
Six foot-six and over 300 pounds, Justin was a starting lineman for the Steelers, a big, blue collar Buffalo kid loved by fans in a blue collar town.
Keana and Justin had two kids, Justin, Jr. and Sabrina. Big Justin was a loving dad.
Justin's career hit its high point in January of 1996 when he took the field as the Steelers played in the Super Bowl.
Just about a year later though, Keana started to see changes in Justin.
"That was when the erratic stuff started, kind of all over the place, I would say around '97, '98 is when I started to notice things start to deteriorate," said Keana.
And things only got worse from there.
Once Justin retired after the '99 season, his behavior continued to take troubling turns. The fun loving guy had changed dramatically - he was moody, unfocused, prone to angry outbursts.
Although Keana didn't know it at the time, Justin was exhibiting classic signs of brain damage caused by CTE.
In an attempt to save their marriage, Keena says they tried counseling but it didn't work.
"He was too erratic. When he was home, he wasn't home. He went to Las Vegas, it was supposed to be a four day weekend, he was gone for six weeks. You know, I never knew what I was going to get, one minute to the next, like when he left a room and came back in, like I didn't know what was going to set him off. People don't realize how bad it was," said Keana.
The couple separated in 2001, and Justin's downward spiral continued.
"After we separated, there would be days at a time where we wouldn't see or hear from him. He'd come to pick up the kids and you could tell he hadn't showered in days, that he really hadn't been out of his house," said Keana.
Scott Brown: "Towards the end before Justin passed away, were there times you concerned about your safety or the safety of the kids?"
"Yes I was very concerned," said Keana. "I made sure if he had them for the weekend, it was a weekend where his mom and sister were staying with him. I gave little Justin a disposable cell phone, and had him hide it in his bag from his dad. And he called me several times on it, saying dad left us with aunt Missy can you come pick us up."
During this time, Justin started to hear things and see things- things that weren't there.
His best friend from Buffalo, Dan Horan, found out just how troubled Justin was when he went to visit him during this time and they were in a suburb of Pittsburgh.
"And he was telling me he liked the town because he had seen his father in the town and we had a discussion and I said 'you know, your father passed away Justin and he said no, I saw this man, I know it's my father,' and the ironic thing is it just turned out to be an older man who was collecting bottles," said Horan.
Justin became increasingly paranoid- he thought people in Pittsburgh, who he called the evil ones, were out to hurt him. He said he needed to get to higher ground, where he thought he would be safe.
Keana and Justin's friends tried to get him psychiatric help, but Justin wouldn't agree to it.
Towards the end, he grew increasingly obsessed with God and religion.
"The week before he died he called me at six ten in the morning and I'm like, why are you calling me this early the kids aren't even up for school yet. He started crying on the phone and he's like God just came to me and talked to me," said Keana.
Scott Brown: "Do you think in hindsight now he had a premonition about his death?"
"Yeah I do. Yeah I do. I think he knew," said Keana.
On Thursday, September 30th of 2004, Justin got in his truck and wound up on the Thruway. He drove right past the Buffalo exits, and headed east, perhaps to the hills of New England and the higher ground where he thought he would be safe.
He never made it.
The voices inside his head were finally stilled.
Scott Brown: "Do you blame the NFL for Justin's death?"
"I think there's hundreds of people to blame between the NFL offices and the owners. They knew a lot, and the doctors," said Keana.
Now, Justin's story and those of those first few players who died of CTE,has made it to the big screen with the movie Concussion.
Keena was a consultant on the movie and lent the filmmakers Justin's actual helmet and jersey to use in the movie, which was filmed in Pittsburgh.
"They did it right, I mean that movie was on point. I've talked to so many women who have seen it and said I've gone through that, I've gone through that. That's just the tip of the iceberg what you saw, the stories I hear are worse that what you saw on screen, way, way worse," said Keana.
Justin, Junior played high school football for a Pittsburgh powerhouse. He wore his dad's number 73 and just like his dad, was an offensive lineman.
He was named a starter for his senior year, but just a game into the season, he was demoted to second string. His mom thought there was something wrong.
"I said bud, what's going on, you've waited three years to start and you seem like you don't care, and he goes 'you know what mom, this is what killed dad and I just don't want to do it.' .And I was like wow, for a 17 year old to say that to me, his heart was just not in it," said Keana.
These days, Keana's life is very different from the one she led with Justin. She's remarried and has two young sons who play hockey where there's no checking allowed.
She won't let them play football.
Scott Brown: "Do you watch any NFL games these days?"
"No, no. I can't watch it without feeling some kind of responsibility, I feel like I'm participating in the death of these men that I'm watching, because I know what's going to happen to a lot of these men. I feel like I'm an accomplice, almost by being a fan and I just don't want to do that. You know the fans, they love the game, not the players, and I love the players, not the game," said Keana.
In the years following Justin's death, the brains of 90 other former NFL players have been examined, 86 of them were found to have CTE.
Keana has become involved with a group called Sisters In Sports. If you'd like to learn more about it: