The family of an Iowa veteran is encouraging other veterans to pledge to donate their brain to CTE research.

Allen Way graduated from the University of Iowa and was drafted into the Army at 24 years old. He served in Vietnam for 11 months.

"After that, he came home right away like everyone else. He was a narcotics officer in Des Moines, and then was appointed by Gov. [Robert] Ray to be the head of the Iowa crime commission. He was actually the youngest at the time in the nation," said Way's daughter, Meredith Smith.

After years in public safety, Way and his wife settled in Carroll where they ran a business.

"After retirement, we started to see more of his service time coming back to him," said Smith.

Smith says her father started experiencing balance issues, memory loss and hallucinations. He went to the VA hospital for help. Doctors diagnosed him with a traumatic brain injury and PTSD.

"We started to see a quicker decline with cognitive things and memory. We just kind of thought it's early dementia. He's 71 and we just need to be sure his doctors at the VA know," said Smith.

In 2017, Way took his own life at the age of 71.

"The state examiner who performed his autopsy called us and said after having all your dad's medical records and looking through this stuff, and knowing he was a veteran I think we can get his brain accepted at the Boston University Brain study for CTE. We were kind. What is CTE? What is going on? And he explained it and we said of course," said Smith.

Dr. Ann McKee at the CTE Center at Boston University told Way's family his brain had stage 3 CTE. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, is the term used to describe brain degeneration likely caused by repeated head traumas. McKee has diagnosed CTE in hundreds of football players. Way is one of the first, and still just a handful of military-only CTE cases.

"It was so hard to believe that my dad had had that, and that who knows how long he had been struggling because he didn't tell us anything," said Smith.

There is an urgent push to get veterans to pledge to donate their brains. This week, Wounded Warrior Project partnered with the Concussion Legacy Foundation to get the word out.

"It's the only way that they are going to be able to diagnose CTE in a living individual is through research. So they need brains," said Smith.

Smith's mission is now speaking to Iowa veterans groups about CTE — and sharing her father's story.

"It's given my family and I an avenue to keep my dad's legacy alive and to honor him, and to honor our veterans," said Smith.

Veterans can pledge to donate their brains at ProjectEnlist.org.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The brain of the former NFL player who killed five people in South Carolina before fatally shooting himself will be tested for a degenerative disease that has affected a number of pro athletes.

Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been shown to cause violent mood swings and other cognitive disorders. CTE can only be diagnosed in an autopsy.

York County Coroner Sabrina Gast told McClatchy Newspapers on Friday that she had gotten approval from Phillip Adams' family for the procedure to be included as part of his autopsy.

The Medical University of South Carolina will be working with Boston University, which has a CTE Center.

According to its website, the center conducts research on the long-term effects of repetitive brain trauma in athletes and military personnel.

On Wednesday, Robert and Barbara Lesslie, two of their grandchildren, 9-year-old Adah Lesslie and 5-year-old Noah Lesslie, and 38-year-old air conditioning technician from Gaston James Lewis was shot and killed by Adams at the Lesslie's residence, The Associated Press reported.

Lewis's colleague, Robert Shook, 38, was also shot. His cousin, Heather Smith Thompson, said he's "fighting hard for his life" at a hospital in Charlotte.

Evidence left at the scene, police said, led them to Adams as a suspect.

Law enforcement officials found Adams at his parents' home, where they evacuated his parents and tried to convince him to come out.

He was found in a bedroom dead of a single gunshot wound, York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson told The AP.

Results from the tests for CTE won't be available for months.

The disorder is typically found in those who've been subjected to repeated head trauma.

A study in 2017 found signs of the disease in 110 of 111 NFL players whose brains were inspected.

Adams' father said in an interview with a Charlotte television station that he blamed football for his son's problems, The AP reported.

In an interview with USA Today, Adams' sister said that her brother's "mental health degraded fast and terribly bad" in recent years.

The AP reported that family members noticed "extremely concerning" signs of mental illness, including an escalating temper and personal hygiene neglect.