Steve Thompson, England’s Rugby World Cup-winning hooker, has become the first professional athlete to pledge his brain to a new ‘bank’ that is being formed in partnership between the Concussion Legacy Foundation and the Jeff Astle Foundation.
Thompson, who has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, hopes that his illness can ultimately help others both in furthering the understanding of chronic traumatic encephalopathy – a type of dementia associated with head impacts – and also making contact sports safer.
“I’m pledging my brain so the children of the people I love don’t have to go through what I have gone through,” said Thompson, who was diagnosed with dementia at the age 42. “It’s up to my generation to pledge our brains so researchers can develop better treatments and ways to make the game safer.”
Thompson is among a group of former rugby professionals with early onset dementia who have also started a legal action against the rugby union authorities.
“Brain donation is the most valuable gift of all for future generations of footballers,” said Dawn Astle, daughter of Jeff Astle. “It may be many years before this jigsaw is complete, but by adding each piece, one at a time, it is the only way we shall understand the true picture and so be able to make a better future for others. The Jeff Astle Foundation encourages families of athletes and veterans to donate the brain of their loved one to the Concussion Legacy Project.”
The Concussion Legacy Project will be led by Dr Gabriele DeLuca, the associate professor in the Nuffield Department of clinical neurosciences at the University of Oxford.
“Brain donation will allow us to better understand the complexities of CTE so that we can develop tailored interventions and treatments to prevent its devastating consequences,” said Dr DeLuca. In the next phase of the collaboration, Dr DeLuca will lead clinical research efforts aimed at learning how best to treat common CTE-related symptoms, including problems with thinking and memory, mood, and sleep.
Rachel Walden is a trustee of the Jeff Astle Foundation and her father, former footballer Rod Taylor, was found to have CTE after his brain was donated following his death in 2018.
“Losing my dad to dementia left so many unanswered questions,” she said. “The only way we as a family could understand what happened to him after his football career was to donate his brain to research.”
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