ATLANTA — Former Atlanta Falcons tight end Hayden Hurst, now a member of the Carolina Panthers, is out indefinitely as he deals with a scary brain injury diagnosis.
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the tight end's father, Jerry Hurst, announced that his son was diagnosed with post-traumatic amnesia by an independent neurologist following a hit he took against the Chicago Bears on Nov. 9.
Post-traumatic amnesia is when a person loses memory for a specified period of time and is defined as "the time after a period of unconsciousness when the injured person is conscious and awake, but is behaving in a bizarre or uncharacteristic manner," according to Headway, a brain injury medical association.
It also mentions that a person suffering from this traumatic brain injury will not remember events during the period of time and that it could last from minutes to weeks to even months.
Hurst took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to say that he suffered a "pretty nasty" concussion and didn't remember up to four hours after the game. He also said the injury was not career-ending and that he hopes to play the last few weeks of the season.
Here's the play when his injury is suspected to have happened:
Hurst played for the Falcons during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, where he spoke with 11Alive about being a strong advocate of suicide prevention and mental health awareness -- detailing his personal battle with depression and his survived suicide attempt while he was in college at the University of South Carolina.
Nearly 10 million people watched tight end Hayden Hurst summon his bravery through tears to tell his story about suicide after the Falcons sent out a tweet that went viral minutes after they posted it.
"Slow recovery, don't know when he'll be back. Prayers appreciated!" Hurst's dad said.