The revealing, confronting and shocking story of how sports-related concussion and the damage it causes can change a family's life.
This is the concussion book everyone has to read. Only in the past decade have the consequences of repeated head knocks become better known, and the science is still rapidly catching up. With the discovery of CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, in the brains of deceased football players, it is now known that the onset of a form of dementia, caused by repeated concussions, can strike people as young as those in their thirties and forties. This is what has happened to Michael Lipman, a former rugby international who came out in public in 2018 as having had a diagnosis of early-onset dementia and probable CTE. With incredible courage and candour, Michael and his wife Frankie Lipman tell their story. For Michael, the damage was already done before he met Frankie. He was a retired footballer in his late thirties, prone to some moments of bizarre behaviour and memory loss when they fell in love. Concussion is both an emotional personal journey and a deep insight into our understanding of CTE - its causes and effects. It's a must-read for anyone involved in contact sports, whether they're players or parents of players. Michael and Frankie's message is urgent, moving and important.
