Thanks to a “brain hug” from HEMP, Scott "THE SHERIFF" Parker is thriving again.

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“I used to train by wrapping my hands in chains and punching trees as hard as I could.”

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THE GOOD NEWS FIRST. 

Scott doesn’t wake up puking his guts out every morning anymore. He doesn’t have to wear sunglasses all the time, even indoors, like he used to. The life-threatening seizures that would frequently hospitalize him haven’t happened for two years now. His eyes, which once had a glazed, faraway look to them, seem clear and focused. 

 

Scott "The Sheriff" Parker is kicking life’s ass again, which he credits to his Strain Specific Hemp CBD.

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Once one of the baddest dudes on the ice in the National Hockey League, Parker was knocked down harder than any punch he ever took by concussion symptoms that all started with a loose puck to the head. His post-hockey life, after a career that saw him play for the Avalanche and San Jose Sharks, became an intolerable witch’s brew of pain, depression and despair.

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THE BAD NEWS.

Parker’s symptoms closely resemble those of a growing number of former NHL fighters, as well as athletes in other sports, who suffer from repeated head trauma, an issue both doctors and the governing bodies of pro sports are attempting to address.

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Parker spent his whole career trying to protect others, to keep them safe. That’s the job of an NHL Enforcer. They roam the ice as hired muscle, the guy called upon to retaliate if someone attacks their teammate. Parker took it as a solemn vow. He estimates he participated in around 400 fights, absorbed at least 4,000 punches to the head and face, and suffered 20 to 25 concussions, but part of the “code” of being an enforcer in the NHL is never letting anyone know you’re too hurt to get back on the ice and fight.

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The NHL, like the NFL, is grappling with how to effectively deal with brain injuries caused by concussions. In recent years, the league was rocked in short succession by the deaths of former enforcers Wade Belak, Derek Boogaard and Rick Rypien, and there is a growing chorus within the NHL who believe fighting should be banned.

 

Many around him, most especially his wife, Francesca, and son, D.J., feared he would die the same kind of tragic death too many other bare-knuckle hockey fighters and other athletes have in recent years.

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“We almost lost him a couple of times,” says D.J., sitting next to his parents on Tuesday afternoon. “It was close.”

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TABOO

Since his retirement, he has continued to help others through his non-profit organization, Parker's Platoon. Parker's Platoon is dedicated to helping military Veterans transition from military to civilian life. They help "one veteran at a time" by thinking outside of the box. They do things like organize outdoor wilderness therapy activities in the Rockies, provide access to essential services and Service Dogs, and help Vets realize they are not alone in their mental and physical healing process.

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In many ways, Parker is LUCKY. He has a wide network of friends and a devoted wife. Less angry than puzzled, he has concern about chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressively degenerative disease that primarily affects victims of repeated brain trauma.

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“I’m not really afraid. I just want to get some answers,” he said. “For me to have to explain the symptoms to people, they don’t know. I sometimes say, ‘Let me give you 20-plus concussions and then we can talk.’ You just want someone to believe in you, for someone to say, ‘You’re not going crazy, it’s not you.’ They haven’t pinpointed what’s wrong. It’s not conclusive.”

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Scott got the chance to get some answers. In 2003 Scott took part in a three-day series of tests on the brain with the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., that is part of a larger initiative involving military veterans with brain injuries.

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Dr. James Kelly, a pioneer in the development of baseline concussion tests that are standard in sports at all levels today, consulted on the findings of the studies. Dr. Kelly primarily works with military victims of head trauma at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence in Bethesda, but agreed to advise on testing that will be conducted on a civilian segment of the population.

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In 2008, while working at Anschutz Medical Center, Dr. Kelly was the one who had to tell Parker he would never play hockey again after administering what should have been a simple test for a pro athlete to achieve. Dr. Kelly asked Parker to keep one foot in a box then hop up and down in place for a few seconds.

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“He couldn’t do it, and he was showing other neurological dysfunction. But for a pro hockey player — these guys are built like Greek gods — not to be able to hop up and down in place a few times was very abnormal,” said Kelly, whose protocol for baseline tests was first adopted by the NHL in 1997, ahead of every major pro sport.

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At age 30, Parker’s career was over.

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WHAT IN THE HELL? 

Initially, Parker thought he had been leveled by a cheap shot. “All I remember was (teammate) Jim Fahey doing a turnaround in the corner and passing me the puck and I went to one-time it and the next thing I know I’m down (on the ice) wondering, ‘What the hell?’ I thought somebody had smoked me from behind. I remember getting up ready for war and come to find out that I guess the puck had hit a divot and the way I had my stick, it hit my shaft and shot straight up and smoked me in my right eye socket.

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“For months, I was just hacking up blood from my sinuses. It was brutal. I almost felt like my head was a helium balloon and I just wanted to pop it. It felt like my head was in the clouds and I just wasn’t all there.”

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Afraid to report his symptoms to team trainers and doctors, Parker told San Jose officials he was fine. “He was having seizures, but when the trainer would ask him, ‘You good to go, Parks?’, he would say, ‘(Bleep) yeah, I’m good to go.’ But he wasn’t good to go in reality,” his wife Francesca said. “Parks just wanted to do his job, to fight for his teammates. It’s amazing, even today, through all this, he’s still like that. Somebody could mouth off to one of the Avs like Cody (McLeod) and Parks would want to climb the glass to go after him. That’s just the way he’s wired.”

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WHY TABOO SOCIAL CLUB EXISTS. 

Both Scott and his wife Francesca say they get a deep sense of fulfillment by truly helping others through Parker's Platoon, and getting a chance provide support to any military Veteran who needs a place to talk and know that they have someone they can turn to for help.

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“We get a lot of them, and while I can’t relate to what they went through on a battlefield, I can understand a lot of what their symptoms are,” Parker said. “Guys don’t like to talk about their problems. But in here, we can. I just hope maybe that what they find out on me in these tests I’ll do soon can help others.”

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Now, through TABOO SOCIAL CLUB they are excited to help even more people. As many people are aware, the hemp CBD market is the new Wild West. Everyone and their grandma seems to have a CBD business, but there is still so much misinformation in this unregulated market...and we are here to change that. Starting with why Strain Specific Hemp matters. 

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The terms Sativa + Indica have origins dating back to the 1700's, but the potential effects of hemp strains go beyond these outdated terms as every strain may have different characteristics due to their unique combination and ratios of terpenes, cannabinoids, and other compounds.

As well as having a different look, taste, and smell, studies are showing specific strains also have different effects on the body and mind. This is why we choose to work with not only Full Spectrum Hemp, but make our products with specific hemp strains that have supported Scott's newfound life.

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-Excerpts from article courtesy of Adrian Dater, The Denver Post.