TThese are desperate times to increase the number of rugby union families, but a business woman from New York offers herself as a point of reference and a champion. As long as former rugby players and their families agree to a diagnosis of neurological disease, Irene Gottlieb-Old may say she is there and continues to fight for support – or even just to recognize her family’s plight.
Gottlieb-Old met former New Zealand striker Geoff Old about 20 years ago. He divorced his first wife after the death of his first son at the age of 16 when he was the head coach of the Dutch team, which played against England for the 1999 World Cup. Gottlieb-Old fell in love with Olda a few years later when they crossed paths on the sports scene in Colorado. He was the technical director of the US Rugby, but he walked away knowing that his executive performance was declining, and at the same time his frustration and involuntary aggression were increasing.
We can see Olds as emissaries with the former All Black and his wife sent from the United States, where they are a little more active in the concept of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) than ever before, and more than just rugby introduced to this concept. , is now. “Sometimes I feel like I’m in the future,” Gottlieb-Old says with a sad smile.
While it is clear that the risk of an elite rugby union player developing CTE has increased since the mid-1990s, when the sport became a full-time professional occupation, he believes it has been similarly affected, albeit to a lesser extent, from the amateur era. . Most of them, according to what happened in football, can develop symptoms at an insignificant age.
It has now been established that there are former players in football who live with dementia more than they should. Is he an amateur rugby player? We do not know. But because we did not look. There should be some amateurs with middle-aged symptoms, as experienced players who sue the governing bodies of rugby. The elderly think Geoff is one, and have diagnoses from the United States to support it, not to mention his long, lifetime experience of the last 18 years.
“I’ve worked hard to keep us together, safe and a little sane,” says Gottlieb-Old, 62. “I cried for 15 years. Most of all, we grieve for our spouse. Slowly. It’s like tearing Band-Aid very slowly. It is difficult to watch and participate in it. “
A recurring theme in the discussion of dementia in families is the reluctance to go into details, which hides the scale of household difficulties and makes it difficult to diagnose and provide follow-up support. This is the value of protecting the dignity of a loved one.
Gottlieb-Old points to familiar daily trials, from the low-pitched roar of outside executive tasks such as using credit cards or paying bills, to more dangerous outbursts of anger and irrationality. It is important to develop defense mechanisms when transferring from a 6-foot-4-inch former international back row forward.
One of them is to go with the deception of the moment. For example, on his recent return to his home in Florida, Gottlieb-Old drove a half-hour drive to his hospital, where Geoff was furious in the car that he had gone the wrong way. It is better to go with him and be late.
The elderly now live in New Zealand. In 2020, between the locks, Gottlieb-Old left his family in the United States to take Oldu home after about 25 years. They hope to find some support through the country’s Accident Compensation Commission (ACC).
After scans in the United States that revealed post-concussion syndrome in 2010, cognitive impairment in 2013, early onset dementia with suspected CTE in 2015, and age-inappropriate atrophy in the brain in 2015 and 2019, the ACC- surprised. The doctors they saw dismissed all of the above and diagnosed him with depression. One report described the former All Black and daring team of the Ranfurly Shield and National Provincial Championship winner Manawatu in the 70s and 80s as a “short spell playing rugby.”
Old came to the public with his suffering in 2016, as the New Zealand Herald published an article about his former rivals from Taranaki, who was a few years older than him and suffering from dementia. He claimed that his claims were a visible part of the iceberg.
In an interview with Gottlieb-Old in New Zealand, Old, now 66, walks in the background before bending over the camera for a quick chat. It is noteworthy that he closes his eyes in anger as if he were concentrating on each speech.
“They almost ignored any of the issues we raised,” he said of the New Zealand rugby. “It’s no different from the NFL in the 20 years I’ve been in the states. They sweep the bottom of the carpet and ignore it. Just deny, deny, deny until you die. I can’t wait until they find CTE in All Black’s brain. Then evil will happen to the fan. “
One day the old one may be that brain. He promised this to a new brain bank at the University of Auckland. Meanwhile, the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) is helping Gottlieb-Old with its own vision for a support center for former players and their families affected by traumatic brain injury.
Gottlieb-Old used his business experience to prepare a 25-page, costly proposal for such a center. New Zealand Rugby (NZR) and AUT have shown interest, but the former threw it away in October last year when a senior official at the organization told Gottlieb-Old that it was not sustainable. It was a bitter low point for him. “What do we do now?” gave up hope. “I started all this because I needed help. We need help. There is no place to go, no one to help us. where are we going He told me to call a doctor. “
AUT is still interested and has plans for a research center. A location has been identified in Bruce Pulman Park on the southern shores of Auckland.
Investor search continues. Hope is not lost NZR will restore the proposed partnership, especially now that Covid is relieved, and NZR has secured an investment of about £ 100 million from the US-based private equity firm Silver Lake. NZR did not respond to a request for comment.
Gottlieb-Old is well aware of the soft value of such assembly points. In 2017, with the Old Eisenhower Center’s After the Impact program, he spent four weeks in Jacksonville, Florida, alongside former NFL players, ice hockey and other sports, all with the consequences of recurrent brain injuries.
The old one came out smoother, with clinical benefits with benefits and obvious value of shared experience, something like Maggie Centers in the UK for families affected by cancer. Gottlieb-Old says: “That’s what motivated me, because that’s what saved us. One of us would be dead. I swear. I want to duplicate it here because I know it works. And it doesn’t cost that much.”
Gottlieb-Old, meanwhile, describes the benefits of the CTE-influenced America’s support network of partners and children as life-saving.
In 2009, she was introduced to CTE Caregivers, a personal Facebook group of about 40 members, by Cathy Carpenter, the daughter of former NFL player Lew. Now their number is about 800. Gottlieb-Old recently formed a new rugby band. The group includes nine former All Blacks partners with dementia, from the Karl Hayman dynasty in the 1940s to the older generation of Old.
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“Families tell these stories that I hear or read every day. I listen, and it’s just words, I mean words, the experiences I’ve had. That’s why I lost my forties and fifties. I can do my best to comfort someone, and you say, you know, I do, and maybe he’s not deliberately bad.
“We need to help alleviate this, because people get angry and get divorced. And children don’t love their parents. “
If a rugby player wants to see what the future holds for some players and their families, a business woman from New York does not seem to be a clear prophet, but she is ready to help not only her husband, but others along the way. turbid waters.
He is at least facing the rugby CTE crisis and is doing something about it.