Local 12 investigates first public case linking domestic violence to deadly brain disease

CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, better known as CTE -- the deadly brain disease brought on by head trauma -- has changed the game of football and forced the NFL to better protect its players.

But experts say there may be millions of victims of domestic violence suffering from the devastating effects of this silent killer, who have no protection at all.

Local 12 spoke to a Los Angeles woman whose mother was one of the first cases to reveal a connection between domestic violence and CTE.

A CASTLE ON A HILL

On a hill in La Crescenta, California, a historic and unique home stands out. The impressive stone façade was built to mimic a medieval castle.

The owner, Maria Garay-Serratos, calls it her fortress of serenity.

But even the idyllic setting can’t protect her from the siege of horrific memories of the pain endured by her mother, Maria Pánfila.

On the dining room table, pictures of a beautiful woman with an engaging smile are laid out. Grasping photo after photo, Garay-Serratos began to recount memories of the torture that her mother’s smile tried to hide.

“You saw your mother beaten repeatedly?” Local 12 asked.

“All my life,” Garay-Serratos said.

SMILING THROUGH THE PAIN

Pánfila ultimately died from decades of domestic violence caused Garay-Serratos’ father. The abuse, she says, was daily and the brutal moments, too numerous to list.

“Pushing, shoving, strangling, choking, slamming her head against the car,” she said.

Much of the violence, she says, left her mother with visible injuries.

But the abuse also left her with hidden trauma to her brain, causing debilitating headaches that only got worse.

“I don't remember my mom ever not having a headache. I saw the sensitivity to light,” Garay-Serratos said, adding that her mother also became sensitive to noise, and would get nauseous and have to rest often to ease the pain.

ESCAPING THE ABUSE

Garay-Serratos says her father continued to inflict pain on her mother.

Over many years, she tried to convince her mother to escape the violence and live with her, but she was reluctant to leave.

“I had to get her away,” she said.

During a shocking visit to her parents’ home, Garay-Serratos finally got a chance to rescue her mother.

“She was literally crawling in the rooms, crawling on the floor,” she said. “She just looked like she was about to die.”

It was the moment when Garay-Serratos’ pleas for her mother to leave finally sunk in.

“I said, ‘Mom, I got to take you,’ and that was the first time she said, ‘I think your dad's going to kill me. I want to leave, too,’” she said.

It was a terrifying and heartbreaking moment, but it was also a moment of victory in her efforts to save her mother. Tragically, it would be short-lived.

SUSPICIONS OF CTE

As soon as her mother came to her home, Garay-Serratos says physical signs of a neurological problem began to manifest. She says her mother’s gait had changed and that she was losing control over movement. Concerns about brain damage were exacerbated by her significant and growing memory loss.

“The profound dementia that just started hitting her was very sad to see,” Garay-Serratos said.

“Were you watching your mother die?” Local 12 asked.

“Absolutely,” she said.

After numerous visits to specialists, doctors diagnosed Pánfila with Alzheimer’s -- a brain disease most commonly associated with older individuals.

Garay-Serratos didn’t believe that diagnosis was correct.

“I knew some of the symptoms were not associated with Alzheimer's,” she said.

Garay-Serratos has a PhD and master’s degree in social work, and has operated domestic violence shelters for years.

After doing research, she suspected her mother was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the degenerative and deadly brain disease known to afflict football players and other athletes, as well as military members who suffer blows to the head.

But CTE had not yet been diagnosed in a domestic violence victim, and the only way to confirm it is by dissecting the brain after death.

Garay-Serratos says her mother was dying from a disease that might be claiming countless other victims.

“Could it be described as a ‘silent killer?’” Local 12 asked.

“Absolutely,” she said.

STARTLING NUMBERS

The number of brain injuries among domestic violence victims is startling.

According to the American Brain Foundation, one in four women in America will experience violence from a domestic partner and 75% of them will suffer one or repeated traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). The number of TBIs from domestic violence is estimated to be 11-12 times higher than the total number of TBIs among athletes and military members combined.

Gary-Serratos estimates the number of domestic violence victims with CTE is in the tens of millions, calling the disease, “a silent and ignored, unrecognized pandemic.”

THE DIAGNOSIS AFTER DEATH

In the summer of 2015, Pánfila was bedridden, unable to speak or recognize her children. She was placed in hospice care, where she remained until her death on June 20.

Maria was asked by two scientists to donate her mother’s brain to science for CTE research.

On January 17, 2019, more than three-and-a-half years after her mother’s death, Garay-Serratos had a video call with Dr. Ann McKee.

A pioneer in CTE, Dr. McKee is a neurologist and neuropathologist, as well as an expert in neurodegenerative disease at the VA Boston Medical Center and the Warren Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Pathology at Boston University School of Medicine. She also founded and directs the UNITE Brain Bank, where she dissected Pánfila’s brain.

The documentary, “This Hits Home,” captures the emotional moment when Dr. McKee delivered the news.

“Your mother's brain was so severely damaged. I've actually never seen this amount of damage,” Dr. McKee said. “Her brain was just being ruined by those injuries.”

Dr. McKee told Garay-Serratos that her mother did have Alzheimer’s disease, but also confirmed she suffered from CTE, as well.

“She did have chronic traumatic encephalopathy on top of it,” Dr. McKee said, bringing tears to Garay-Serratos’ eyes.

MUCH MORE WORK AHEAD

Garay-Serratos’ mother made headlines as the first public case of CTE linked to domestic violence.

In an interview with Dr. McKee in September inside the Brain Bank, she made it clear that much more research is needed to explore the impact of CTE on victims of domestic violence.

“This is definitely a field where we need a lot more investigation,” she said.

“Would you like to study that if you were given the ability to get the brains of these victims?” Local 12 asked.

“Absolutely,” she said.

GLOBAL MOVEMENT

Garay-Serratos is now on a mission. She founded the nonprofit Pánfila Domestic Violence HOPE Foundation to educate people and search for what she believes is a silent and deadly killer in tens of millions of domestic violence victims.

“My mission is to create a global movement around the issue of domestic violence, head trauma, and CTE,” she said, with a look of determination filling her eyes.