Cameron Adamson

Cameron Adamson was a successful high school wrestler and Corporal in the Marines, and was posthumously promoted to Sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserves. After noticing changes to his personality and lifestyle during his life, his family decided to donate his brain to the BU CTE Center for answers after his passing at the age of 22. We thank the Adamson family for their generous donation and commitment to our research.

Read Cameron’s story below.

Wrestling was an ideal sport for Cameron Adamson. His father, U.S. Navy Commander (retired) Daryl Adamson, said his son prided himself on being responsible for success or failure in his matches and that it taught him self-awareness and responsibility for his actions.

After graduating from Conneaut Area Senior High School in Conneautville, PA, Cameron enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and reported to MCRD Parris Island in June of 2015 for recruit training. In January of 2016, he graduated as a Private First Class and reported to Marine Combat Training at Camp Pendleton and attended his MOS school of Basic Armor at Fort Lee Army Base in Prince George, VA, from September to November of 2016.

He made several deployments between 2016 and 2020. Daryl notes that both sports and the military had a “profound effect on his physical, social, [and] emotional [health], and his development as an individual, especially in the last year of his life.”

Outside of his military career, Cameron enjoyed spending time with friends and family, especially to go hunting, fishing, and riding all-terrain vehicles. He was very interested in teaching his family and friends about the safe use of firearms, which was a skill he perfected while in the Marine Corps.

Before his passing, Cameron’s family noticed changes in his personality. He showed signs of helplessness and hopelessness. He tried to mask his depression and his family noticed he was abusing alcohol. They heard him say “the world would be better without me” and “nobody will miss me anyway.”

In the last few months of his life, “he showed the inability to concentrate or think rationally and to carry on the simplest of conversations with family and friends.” He either slept all the time or couldn’t sleep and became disinterested in his appearance and hygiene.

“I think Cameron would say when paths in his life seemed long and hard, his sister, Kayleigh, would take his hand and try and remind him that he didn’t ever have to walk it alone,” Daryl told us.

It was Kayleigh who first suggested donating Cameron’s brain as a way for the Adamson family to gain clarity and help further research. Daryl says supporting research is important to expand the understanding of mild TBI, CTE, and changing how the public views the dangers of repetitive head impacts, concussion, sub-concussive hits, and blast-related injury.

Daryl said that despite finding some closure, there are still many unanswered questions. Ultimately, Cameron was not diagnosed with CTE, but his brain did show microscopic evidence of a previous TBI upon examination. There were abnormalities in the white matter, including mild rarefaction and perivascular macrophage infiltration and inflammation.

Knowing “the nature of the onset, presentation, and progression of symptoms, the threshold level of trauma necessary to cause the disease, [and accurate diagnostics], may have helped us as a family to save Cameron,” he said.

He urges all parents to understand the importance of properly healing from concussions and recognizing when children’s bodies and brain need more time to heal. “Never tell your children to ‘tough it out’ if they are having troubles,” he said. “This can slow recovery and may make the concussion symptoms worse.”

When Daryl remembers his son, he says “Cameron made me laugh, he made me proud, and made me honored to be his dad every single day.” By telling Cameron’s story, he continues to keep his son’s legacy alive.

“Even if it only saves one person, his death was not the end of his story.”

If you would like to support the BU CTE Center’s research and help give more families life-changing diagnoses, you can donate here.

If you or a loved one are interested in brain donation, please view our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and brain donation brochures for more information.

This story was written by Amanda V. Cabral at the BU CTE Center. If you are interested in having a donor story written for your loved one, please reach out to her at avcabral@bu.edu.