Ex-UFC fighter Julie Kedzie has pledged to donate her brain to science.
Kedzie, 42, made her professional mixed martial arts debut in 2004 with the Indiana-based HOOKnSHOOT. Throughout the next decade, she would compete in 29 bouts under a variety of promotions including, King of the Cage, EliteXC, Bodog Fight, Strikeforce, and the UFC.
Since retiring from the sport in 2013, Kedzie has been open regarding her struggles with depression, anxiety, hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and lack of sleep, which are all symptoms of the fatal brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Also known as CTE, it is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head.