Rico Petrini Jr. was a Hall of Fame athlete and 4-year starter in football at Oregon State University whose professional career was cut short by his concussion and injury history. With over 25+ concussions, 3 hospitalized and 15K repetitive hits to the head, Rico did not pass the medical evaluation for the NFL which may have saved his life. In a 6-month period in early 2021, Rico experienced cascading systemic failures aƯecting mood, behavior, cognition, sleep, and physical functioning that through numerous specialists, scans, and testing all came back to neurologically based and a diagnosis of Suspected CTE.

Rico was fortunate to be selected at this time to be 1 of 50 football players selected for an open study at the University of Utah using photobiomodulation for ex-athletes with suspected CTE or TBI. Using the Vielight Neuro Gamma, Rico received a battery of testing between 2021 and 2025 which saw ‘clinically significant gains’ in all areas of function and an improvement of overall symptoms by approximately 80%. Rico has since used his substantial health gains to advocate for the use of red-light therapy in athletes, veterans, and others suƯering from TBI or suspected CTE.