Nullawil half forward Grant Ford has suffered nasty head knocks and was subsequently diagnosed with epilepsy, despite taking all the correct precautions in his preparation.
His eye-opening story began when he was dropped on his head playing in 2008, which bulged a disc in his neck.
He suffered a headache and concussion and made the decision to begin wearing a helmet.
Despite this, he still copped another knock to his head and ended up with a bleed on his brain, which turned into excruciating migraines and then epilepsy.
“I was never born with it or anything like that — the knocks and concussions (caused the brain bleed) and it caused the development of epilepsy at a late stage,” he said.
“It was a scary time. I went to go see the specialist and I didn’t know if I could play again or work… they can take your licence away and that’s a scary thought, I have a whole life ahead of me.”
To read more of our concussion coverage, grab a copy of today’s Guardian (September 9).
