BACKGROUND:  

 

Inspired by my uncle’s battle with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) for over a decade, Women of the Movement is a deeply personal and dramatic story that follows my aunt’s journey as she evolved from partner to caretaker, and later advocate, as the first person to successfullytake the NCAA to trial over his death from CTE. 

Some of the elements shaping this timely and intimate story are the complexities of emerging science and advocacy, especially when it concerns America's most beloved (and lucrative) sport.  

 

Since 2013, I have been researching and documenting CTE and its impacts first hand, at times working with the Boston University Center for CTE and Concussion Legacy Foundation.  

 

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SYNOPSIS:  

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TEXAS, 1970s: GREG was a National Champion, All-American defensive tackle at the University of Texas, where he played scholarship football in order to pursue his degree in his true passion, art... 

 

And DEB was his wife.

 

Quiet yet soulful, Deb was the love of Greg’s life, and together they built a simple, happy life together- teaching, raising their children, leaving his college football glory days in the past.  

 

TEXAS, 2010s – Now both in their 60s, Deb spends her days isolated, caring for Greg, who, once a brilliant artist and orator, can no longer complete a puzzle meant for a three-year-old, let alone a sentence. Based on his symptoms, medical history, and research, she is convinced that that that his cognitive decline was caused by head trauma while playing football all those years ago,  though no one else will believe it, even her local doctors are skeptical of the "new" disease. After Greg's death and confirmation that he suffered from Stage IV CTE,  the typically the typically unassuming and underestimated Deb finds herself an integral part of the boots on the ground movement advancing CTE research and advocacy. She joins those at the forefront of the fight for change surrounding this “newly discovered” degenerative dementia, the majority of whom it turns out, are women – mothers, daughters, widows – those left behind to pick up the pieces after this disease devastated their families and the men they loved. Along with leading researchers, doctors, and the female director of the BU Center for CTE, Deb must face the backlash of her small Texas town, widespread denial, and worse, indifference, in her quest to save lives, and find meaning in her own. Finally, Deb risks it all, stepping into the spotlight with a landmark case seeking justice from the NCAA and exposing their history of lies and exploitation in the name of turning a mighty profit. At the end of the day, Deb learns that even with science and reason on your side, it is an uphill battle to sway hearts and minds, but a drop in the ocean of change is worth it.