Rugby veteran donates brain to science
EXCLUSIVE: Hopes testing will aid understanding of the effects of concussion.
Aformer Junior All Black is the first New Zealand rugby player to publicly commit his brain to science after being told he has the degenerative brain disease CTE.
John Williams, who played two years for the Junior ABs and Waikato in the late 70s and early 80s has been tested by a neuropsychologist whose report indicated the former lock has chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
CTE can only be definitively diagnosed post-mortem so Williams, 60, has notified his family that he wants to donate his brain for testing. “I want to do something to help,” Williams said.
“There will be a lot of old rugby players sitting around like me not really sure what’s going on with them. I hope that by sharing my story some of them will not be embarrassed to seek help like I was for so long.”
There is increasing concern that many retired rugby players are living with the effects of concussions suffered during their careers. Last year the Herald published a series of articles titled The Longest Goodbye, which told the stories of several former All Blacks whose families believe their dementia relates to their playing careers.
Williams, known as JJ, lives with chronic pain, dizziness and headaches. He is often confused by simple tasks. He can barely write any more. He has to re-read the same pages of books to take it in.
When friends like former All Black Earle Kirton noticed the deterioration, they urged him to seek help.
Sir Richard Faull, the neuroscientist whose Auckland University research team discovered the brain can help repair itself by generating new cells, said gestures like Williams’ were greatly appreciated.
“Traumatic brain injury and CTE resulting from sports injuries is of huge interest and is a very important area to undertake research,” Faull said.
When Williams dies, brain bank staff will make arrangements to remove the organ and transport it to the Centre for Brain Research (CBR).
The brain tissue will be processed, stored and studied to investigate the role of proteins such as amyloid and tau and genes that have been implicated in CTE.
“The research will be ongoing but the initial results will be communicated to the family after five to six months,” Faull said.
High-profile research in the States has shown the extent of the problem with CTE and retired NFL players, with more than 100 cases diagnosed.
“It will be the first time anybody’s been interested in me for my brain,” laughed Williams.
Plucked from relative obscurity to play for the Juniors in 1978, Williams, who stood 1.99m and weighed 108kg, was identified as a lock with ideal physical traits and an uncompromising outlook.
“I was a head-first player,” he noted.
He went to hospital in Brisbane after being hit in the head by an opponent’s knee, and suffered several injuries when the Juniors played an internal tour.
Against Thames Valley he was kicked in the head and lost consciousness but never went to hospital.
He played another four games over three weeks, suffering head injuries in every match and losing consciousness in one.
After the final match of the tour Williams passed out in the showers.
Instead of getting proper medical attention he went home and rested up for a game for Waikato.
When he suffered a further head injury he was taken to hospital where it was discovered he had fractured his skull.
He doesn’t remember much about the 1980s and his comparative clarity around his rugby career owes everything to his recently deceased mother, Dawn, who faithfully put all his clippings in scrapbooks and kept all his mementos.
Williams eventually went into the bar and restaurant trade. Last year he was found guilty of tax evasion and sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison.
That sentence was this year effectively reduced on appeal to time served when the full extent of his cognitive problems were revealed.
Williams hopes that by sharing his story with others, and his brain, he can regain some pride in death that has eluded him in life.