[ReynardMuldrake]

Originally Posted by Frosty

That is an unusual way to commit suicide. Sounds more like an accident.

Not the first time.

SUNNY ISLES BEACH, Fla. — The words came up on Alicia Duerson’s cellphone as blithely as text messages typically do, but this one was different: her former husband, the former Chicago Bears star Dave Duerson, asked her to donate his brain for research.

In a suicide note, Dave Duerson repeated an earlier request he made in text messages to have his brain donated for research.
Enlarge This Image

Duerson in 1989 with Chicago, where he won the first of his two Super Bowl titles. In 1999, he showed his organ donor card at a memorial for Walter Payton, who died from liver disease.

She texted back and heard nothing, then called their son, Tregg, who was just ending his workday as a bank analyst in Chicago. They called again and got voice mail.

The next and last message they received from Dave Duerson was meant for them, their family and perhaps all of professional football. It was written in his hurried hand, repeating his text message in case it had not been received, and found in the South Florida condominium where he placed a gun to his chest and shot himself to death last Thursday.

“Please, see that my brain is given to the N.F.L.’s brain bank.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/sp...pagewanted=all