Former England captain Dylan Hartley has revealed he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury over 11 months ago.
The player’s doctor shared that parts of his brain had ‘gone to sleep’ following a number of head injuries during his career.
Speaking to the Mail Online, he said: “I got my results and I didn’t really want to talk about it,’
“I was coming to terms with my brain not being as healthy as I wanted it to be. Sorry, I didn’t mean to blank you, it’s just the more you talk about it the more real it is. Talking about it was quite hard but it was all part of the process of dealing with it.
“I never wanted to get a scan because I didn’t want to know the truth. I’d started to stutter and mix my words, dropping things and struggling when my kids made certain noises. I was confronting the monster under the bed, in a way.
“I did an MRI scan and a SPECT scan. The SPECT scan is where they inject low-level radiation into your body and see how your brain is firing.
“There were signs that my head had been through a pretty tough time. I was basically diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome. It was a big moment. The term “concussion” almost lessens the blow and I think people should probably change the language. It’s traumatic brain injury.
“I don’t want to say I had areas of brain that were dead, but they were asleep. They were dormant. The hardest thing in life is usually the right thing to do. The easy thing is to ignore things. I took the hard path, went and got the scan and I’m so happy I did.”
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Nigel Owens names the FIVE worst players to referee, including Austin Healey
After retiring from international rugby, Owens has revealed three of the worst rugby stars he ever had to officiate during his career.
1. Austin Healey
Owens said: “Definitely Healey. I only caught him towards the end of his career, thankfully.
“A wonderfully talented player and a very good pundit now, but he always had plenty say and quickly assumed I didn’t like him.
“He’s actually blocked me on Twitter, but I don’t think I’m the only one.”
