Invisible Wounds: Why Veterans Are Being Asked to Donate Their Brains to Study Blast Injuries

Helmand, Afghanistan, 2007. British soldiers wait as a charge detonates, destroying a compound wall with it. One soldier glows for a moment as dust from his helmet silhouettes the rising sunlight – a moment which also reveals something much less visible: the stress of a primary blast wave.

This rapid burst of energy, faster than the speed of sound, is the concern of growing worry for scientists. While soldiers often walk away unharmed from these blasts, research now suggests repeated exposure to such low-yield blasts can cause severe, long-term brain damage.

Helmets Can’t Stop a Blast Wave

Modern combat helmets are meant to protect against bullets and shrapnel – but not the pressure wave from a blast. These waves can pass through the skull and hurt blood vessels and brain cells in subtle, difficult-to-diagnose ways.

“There is more and more evidence that even a minor injury can actually cause long-term changes in the brain,” added Clara Limbaeck, a consultant neuropathologist at Oxford University Hospitals. “The danger of repetitive trauma is that it can be completely asymptomatic to begin with, but ultimately can have a very big effect.”

Calling for Brain Donations

And now, the Concussion Legacy Foundation, a foremost head injury charity, is encouraging British military veterans to bequeath their brains for scientific examination. The hope is to improve knowledge of blast-induced Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)—a condition which could afflict thousands of veterans but frequently goes unnoticed.

Symptoms of TBI—such as memory loss, dizziness, sleep disturbances, and mood changes – can take years to manifest and are similar to those of PTSD. This convergence, combined with a lack of understanding among health professionals, means that many go undiagnosed or are misdiagnosed.

Severe TBI caused by massive explosions can be missed, and veterans can remain with “invisible wounds” years after returning home.

One Veteran’s Story

Tom Clarke knows the cost of such hidden injuries. A survivor of an IRA mortar bomb attack in Northern Ireland in 1976, he suffered no physical damage but something was wrong.

“I had massive headaches for weeks. For a year, everything’s blank,” he told us. His own actions were changed, and his wife could see it. When he tried to explain the symptoms, he was told to rest in a darkened room.

It wasn’t until decades later, watching an ITV News broadcast, that Tom heard the words “blast TBI” for the first time. He recognized the symptoms and now had a name for what he had been enduring.

Finding Answers

There is no treatment for blast TBI, but there are treatments for the symptoms. However, enormous questions remain:

• Is there a safe level of blast exposure?
• Can more useful diagnostic tools—such as biomarkers or advanced brain imaging—be created?
• Can newer technologies provide better protection?

De Luca indicates that to find out, funded large-scale scientific research is required and, most importantly, donated brain tissue from blast-exposed veterans.

Professor Gabriele De Luca, a neurologist at the University of Oxford who runs a brain bank partly funded by the Concussion Legacy Foundation, said each donation helps the science advance. “Brain donation is a powerful gift,” he said. “It’s a legacy.”.

The more brains that scientists can examine, the better they will know who is vulnerable, how the damage progresses, and how to stop it.

A Legacy That Saves Lives

For veterans who served in combat areas, donating their brain can save future generations of soldiers—and citizens—suffering. It’s a chance to turn pain into gain, and sacrifice into breakthroughs.

If you’ve experienced symptoms of blast TBI or would like to be involved in this research, email us at investigations@itv.com

Your story, and your brain, could help change the future of brain health and veteran care.