Wally Lewis has opened up about ‘the most belittling moment’ of his life, with the rugby league legend keen to raise awareness about living with his debilitating condition.
Nicknamed ‘The King’, the former Maroons captain spent three decades at the top of his sport, winning a record eight Man of the Match awards at Home State level, leaving him with the lead had about Queensland’s dominance over NSW in the 1980s and 1990s.
The 68-year-old transitioned seamlessly from the football field to the commentary box, but stunned supporters when he announced his retirement last year after revealing he was suffering from the effects of a neurodegenerative condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
‘I’ve been having some problems with my self-confidence lately. My memory is a bit of an issue, but there’s no point in complaining about it, get on with life as I’m very quickly approaching retirement age – which isn’t that far away!’ he said on The Project on Wednesday evening.
Lewis said his latest health scare has left him with some embarrassing moments, but he highlighted a time in 2006 when he struggled with his epilepsy.
Wally Lewis has opened up about his ‘most disparaging moment’ amid his health struggles
Nicknamed the King by his adoring fans, Lewis is considered one of football’s greatest ever stars
He had suffered from seizures as a player and kept it private, but decided to make it public after an incident occurred during a televised presentation.
“The first bit of shame for me came when I presented the news and that was before I declared that I had epilepsy,” he said.
‘During the presentation of the news I sometimes felt an attack coming on and thought “oh no, here it comes” and then of course I had them.
“I can remember the most belittling moment, as I sat there reading the news, I had a seizure, urinated in my pants while I was sitting there, and I knew the shame that awaited me.
‘The two newsreaders I was with were very good, took over from me and read the rest of the sport. That was the day I had to be honest and admit the difficulties I was having and deal with the epilepsy.
“That was a long time ago and I no longer have seizures, which is very good, but they have been replaced in the number 14 of the rugby league jersey due to some memory problems.”
Lewis shared the grim reality of memory problems and revealed the way he deals with the problem on a daily basis.
Lewis said he wet himself while presenting the news because he had an epileptic seizure
‘I’ve noticed that it’s become very common these days to drive through and get to a place and think, “Where the hell am I going?” I can’t remember where it was where I was supposed to be.
“So I have a diary, which has become my absolute best friend. I carry it with me pretty much everywhere to remind me where I’m going and when I get there, what I should be doing.
“It was a bit embarrassing, some of the things that happened along the way, but that’s life. I’m not looking for sympathy, just get on with it like ordinary Australians do.”
CTE is the progressive degenerative disease most common in people who have suffered repeated concussions and traumatic head injuries.
The disease is most commonly associated with athletes involved in contact sports such as rugby league and AFL.
Symptoms include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, aggression, depression and eventually progressive dementia.
Lewis now has CTE and is campaigning for government funding to raise awareness
There is no known treatment or cure for the condition.
Lewis said Australia urgently needs to adopt nationally consistent protocols to help prevent, detect and control head injuries in all sports, and players need to be educated at grassroots level to understand the risks.
“Players need to understand that brain injuries need to be taken seriously because you can’t always see them, like a broken arm,” he said.
‘It is not a badge of honor to return to the field with a head injury, it is careless.’