WASHINGTON, D. C. — Before he came down with coronavirus, Strongsville 17-year-old Brysen Gray was a popular student athlete at St. Edward High School who was dubbed a comedian by his friends and family. After coming down with the virus that’s killed more than 740,000 Americans, Gray exhibited neurological problems associated with COVID before taking his own life in April.
Gray’s mother, Tara, said her son came down with coronavirus on a Monday. During his illness, he lost his sense of taste and smell. He wasn’t eating or drinking and had a fever, nausea, and tingling in his arm. He told some friends he felt like he was out of his mind by the Wednesday or Thursday after he got the virus. He was dead on Friday. Gray said her son had no symptoms of depression before contracting coronavirus.
“We truly, 100% believe it was coronavirus,” said Gray, a nurse who learned of others who experienced coronavirus-related mental health issues and was surprised by a lack of research on the issue. “Everything is focused on the respiratory aspects of COVID, but there are mental health effects. You are isolating COVID because you don’t want to spread it, but there is that mental health effect we need to be watching for.”
Gray’s husband, Shawn, reached out to the office of their congressman, Rocky River Republican Anthony Gonzalez and asked him to sponsor legislation to promote research on COVID-19′s effects on the brain. Last week, Gonzalez introduced legislation called the “The Brycen Gray and Ben Price COVID-19 Neurological Impact Act” that would authorize the National Science Foundation, in consultation with the National Institutes of Health, to award grants to support research on neurological and psychiatric illnesses associated with COVID-19 infection.
The bill is named for Gray and an Illinois man who exhibited mental health problems after a prolonged stay in the hospital for the coronavirus and committed suicide. Gonzalez says neither of them had a history of mental illness before their COVID-19 diagnosis.
“We lost a gifted, talented young man,” Gonzalez said of Gray in a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives. “And the hurt and pain that is inflicted upon those left behind is something no one should ever have to endure. This is a moment where we should turn grief into action and actively find solutions.”
Research published in The Lancet Psychiatry indicates roughly a third of coronavirus patients experience neurological or psychiatric illness following their diagnosis and infection. One in 8 of them is diagnosed with such an illness for the first time. Anxiety, mood and substance disorders are among the more common problems. Psychosis, dementia, brain hemorrhages, strokes and Parkinson’s disease have been linked to the coronavirus.
Gonzalez said he decided to introduce legislation to encourage research on coronavirus’ links to mental health after meeting with Gray’s family and talking to colleagues in Congress whose constituents made similar mental health problem reports following the COVID-19 outbreak. He said he fears research on COVID’s mental health effects wouldn’t get done without “targeted guidance” from Congress.
“The fact that Bryson Gray took his life didn’t make sense to so many people in the community because, by all accounts, friends, family, relatives, there was nothing amiss from a mental health standpoint that would lead to a suicide,” Gonzalez said in an interview. “COVID is such a new virus, and we don’t fully understand all the implications that it has on the body or the mind. We have to put something forward and make sure that we at least understand what’s happening here so that we can prevent it and we can better inform constituents.”
Gonzalez’s legislation is co-sponsored by Republicans, including Bainbridge Township Republican Rep. Dave Joyce and Democrats, including Pennsylvania’s Susan Wild and California’s Scott Peters and Tony Cárdenas.
Gonzalez said he’s seeking U.S. Senate co-sponsors for the bill and believes it has a good chance of incorporation into more significant legislation if it doesn’t pass on its own. It has support from the Children’s Hospital Association and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
“As we work to restore our way of life and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot lose sight of the fact that many Americans are still suffering from the long-term, lingering effects of this virus,” said a statement from Joyce. “This bipartisan legislation will provide critical support to research centers that are working to better understand and address neurological and psychiatric illnesses associated with COVID-19. We must continue to fight for medical breakthroughs for the Americans struggling from the residual effects of COVID-19.”
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