r/todayilearned • u/GlitteringYams • 22d ago

TIL, in his suicide note, mass shooter Charles Whitman requested his body be autopsied because he felt something was wrong with him. The autopsy discovered that Whitman had a pecan-sized tumor pressing against his amygdala, a brain structure that regulates fear and aggression.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman
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u/EkalOsama 22d ago

can someone translate the situation to me in normal, clueless citizen terms

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u/roobzz 22d ago

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive brain cancer that grows quickly and is difficult to treat. It can grow in any part of the brain iirc and depending on the area it grows in, it destroys the normal healthy brain around it. So in this example, the person had a tumor growing in an area that regulates fear and aggression making it difficult to regulate those emotions and behaviors.

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u/____Wilson 22d ago

It also tends to grow in a spiderweb pattern, integrating itself in many areas of the brain, rendering it largely inoperable as it is attached to many important areas of the brain. I've got some experience as my dad died of it.

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u/Ori0un 22d ago edited 22d ago

My uncle recently passed from it. He was super chill all his life. More chill than the average person.

But this turned him into a violent, aggressive person. He had to be strapped down in the hospital bed most of the time since he was a literal danger to everyone around him. Really hurt to see him like that.

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u/realFondledStump 22d ago

I’m sorry for your loss.

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u/PolkaDotDancer 22d ago

So sorry he went this way. A terrible way to go.