Taking on 'gridiron dementia'

Dr. Bennet Omalu flips through the pages of his book, "Play Hard Die Young," which examines the effect of concussions on NFL players' brains. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Taking on 'gridiron dementia'

Lodi doctor writes book on NFL concussions

By Layla Bohm
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Wednesday, February 27, 2008 7:02 AM PST

Comments (3 comment(s))

It's an uncommon route to go from childhood in a remote Nigerian village to examining a professional football player's brain on a Pittsburgh autopsy table.

Add a number of academic degrees and a move to Lodi in order to become San Joaquin County's medical examiner, and you get a sampling of Dr. Bennet Omalu's life.

On Saturday, he'll add "published author" to his list of accomplishments, when "Play Hard Die Young" goes on sale.

Subtitled "Football Dementia, Depression, and Death," the paperback book details Omalu's ground-breaking theory about the lasting effects of repeated concussions.

"We've known that repeated blows to the head are dangerous since the 19th century, so why should football be an exception?" Omalu said this week in his Lodi living room.

The animated Omalu wears suits and gold cufflinks, both to look professional and because he grew accustomed to it as a child in a British boarding school. His passion for the message in his book soon becomes obvious as his voice rises and he gestures with his hands.

The book's purpose is to educate football players and their family members about the long-term mental changes that Omalu believes result from repeated head injuries.

Though he has a number of degrees and started medical school at the age of 15, Omalu's book is not filled with scientific jargon. Instead, he uses everyday language to tell readers about his journey into the world of forensic pathology.

He writes about the September day in 2002 when he got to work as a Pittsburgh pathologist and learned that the body of an NFL Hall-of-Famer was waiting on his autopsy table.

In examining the brain of four-time Super Bowl champ Mike Webster, Omalu found abnormalities that would be common in an elderly person with dementia, not a 50-year-old man.

Dr. Bennet Omalu at a glance

Age: 39.
Family: Wife, Prema; daughter, Ashly.
Childhood: Sixth of seven children born to parents who were Nigerian refugees during a civil war. Started elementary school at age 3. Attended boarding school and excelled scholastically, so his parents told him to go to medical school. He obeyed, though he had wanted to be a pilot.
Studies: Entered medical school at age 15. Became burned out four years later but kept at it, telling himself he could do things other than simply practice medicine.
Degrees: Has a doctorate and did his residency at Harlem Hospital Center in New York City. Is board certified in anatomic pathology, clinical pathology, forensic pathology, neuropathology. Has completed two fellowships in Pittsburgh, where he also received a master's degree in public health. Will complete a master's degree in business administration in May from Carnegie Mellon University.
Work: Began working as a combined forensic pathologist and neuropathologist in July 2002 in Pittsburgh. Started his own consulting firm. Hired in late August as San Joaquin County's first medical examiner.

About the book

"Play Hard Die Young: Football Dementia, Depression, and Death" goes on sale Saturday. It is available through most major booksellers, including Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble. It may be purchased directly through the author's Web site at neoforenxisbooks.com.
Previews of the book have resulted in a number of positive reviews from sports writers at publications ranging from The Washington Post to The Chicago Tribune to Newsday.

The football players

Dr. Bennet Omalu's book focuses on his studies of three deceased NFL football players' brains:
• Mike Webster, who played 17 seasons in the NFL and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997, seven years after he retired. He was the starting center for the Pittsburgh Steelers and won four Super Bowl rings.
He died of a heart attack in September 2002 at the age of 50, 12 years after he retired.
• Terry Long, who was drafted by the Steelers in 1984 and became a starting guard. He retired in 1992.
He committed suicide by drinking antifreeze in June 2005, 12 years after he retired. He was 45.
• Andre Waters, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1984 to 1993, eight years as starting defensive back, and the Arizona Cardinals from 1994 to 1995. He received all-NFC honors in the 1991 season.
At age 44, he committed suicide by shooting himself in November 2006, 11 years after he retired.
Sources: Dr. Bennet Omalu and his book, "Play Hard Die Young".

Omalu thought it might explain why Webster's life had gone to ruins to the point of homelessness, and why he had become "perceptibly mentally disabled" by the time he retired from the NFL at age 38.

Omalu gave the phenomenon the name "gridiron dementia."

Two subsequent autopsies of professional football players showed the same results. In traveling across the country to talk with family members of players, Omalu found that all had displayed obvious signs of dementia. All had attempted suicide and experienced increasing mental problems, depression and paranoia.

His theory has drawn controversy, especially because Omalu believes the NFL should do more to educate players about concussions and care for them years later, when the effects are setting in.

In fact, his parents, who are retired and still live in Nigeria, have worried that Omalu could become the target of a hit man. After all, football is one of America's defining pastimes.

But Omalu, a devout Catholic, believes God placed him in that Pittsburgh autopsy room for a reason. He feels that it's his obligation to share what he has learned, and to do what he can to educate others.

That's why Omalu rejected suggestions from potential publishers, who wanted him to make the book more scientific. Instead, he struck out on his own, investing his own money to self-publish the book.

He set up his own one-book publishing company, called Neoforenxis Books, and paid several people to help with marketing, publishing advice and a Web site.

"The book appeals to the broad spectrum of people — the kid who wants to play football, the high school kid who is playing, the parents, the college student who has had repeated blows to the head," Omalu said.

He decided to write a book after walking through an airport bookstore and seeing Barack Obama's book, "The Audacity of Hope." Omalu bought the book for the title alone, then proceeded to read most of it on his flight. He liked the conversational tone and figured he could do that, too.

Omalu finished his 154-page book in two months, even while working full-time and studying for a master's degree in business administration from Carnegie Mellon University.

In the meantime, his wife became pregnant. A registered nurse, she was used to Omalu's strong work ethic: When they were dating, she would take a mat to a college computer lab and sleep on the floor while he worked.

The couple, who met at church, married in December 2005, in a week-long wedding in Nigeria.

She was nine months pregnant when they moved across the country last summer and Omalu became the county's first medical examiner. He makes $290,000 a year — a high amount, but one that actually saves the county on the cost of autopsies — and is now performing hundreds of autopsies a year.

He's acutely aware of county spending, and he does not drive a county car. He also prefers to use his own cell phone so that he doesn't accidentally use a county phone to make a personal call.

When he does interviews for his new book, Omalu is careful to do them on his own time. He said he's never forgotten the time a professor told him, "Bennet, never put yourself on the defense."

He doesn't feel he has to defend himself about his new book, because it's his own opinion based on the brains he has inspected.

He also has no particularly strong feelings toward football, in part because soccer was the popular sport in Nigeria. When Omalu immigrated to the United States in 1994 to continue his medical education, he did watch some football, but now it makes him feel "uncomfortable," he said. The crashing helmets take the fun out of the game for Omalu.

When he's not working all day in autopsies, testifying in court or studying for his final three classes toward his MBA, Omalu now has other interests.

He comes home from work, wearing one of his many neatly pressed suits that he hopes make him look more mature than his 39 years. He walks in the front door and greets his wife, Prema, and gets a big smile from his 6-month-old daughter, Ashly.

The workaholic hadn't been extremely interested in starting a family, but his wife wanted a baby. So they had a child, and everything changed.

"I've fallen in love with her," Omalu said of the tiny girl with curly black hair. "My priority has changed; I'm now a family man."

He's already dreaming of sending his daughter to Lakewood School, in walking distance from the home they have overhauled and hope to buy. They have no desire to return to snowy Pittsburgh.

"Lodi is a beautiful place. People are good here; you walk down the street and people wave at you," Omalu said, noting that neighbors brought them baked goods when they moved in. "I'm truly, truly happy here."

He and his wife would like to have a second child and if it's a boy, Omalu's research established at least one parenting rule: He won't let his son play football.

Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

wtf wrote on Feb 27, 2008 7:37 AM:

" The schools don't help these young people, either. Many high schools and particularly universities, let these young men slide academically and allow all kinds of "perks" which do not help them in the long run. "

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wtf wrote on Feb 27, 2008 7:36 AM:

" His short-term memory was affected; but not the long-term and there were mood and emotional problems as well as physical problems from heart rate to breathing to grip strength. Slowly, after almost six years of careful eating and supplementation, he's coming back. He was lucky, too, that he was in good shape and health when he sustained his injury.

I believe that part of the problem for football players is that many of these young men don't have another career or area of work to fall back on. Football is all they know. "

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wtf wrote on Feb 27, 2008 7:33 AM:

" Looks like this might be an interesting read. Dr. Omalu is providing a valuable service not only to football players and their families, but to anyone who's had a head injury. This is important, too, because so many vets returning from Iraq have head injuries - one of the leading injuries in this war.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-03-03-brain-trauma-lede_x.htm

A friend of mine sustained a head injury and it has been a long road back. He refused any surgery or drugs and, instead, is using supplements, diet change and exercise to create new neural pathways in his brain. "

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