Aussie Athlete's Donated Brain Discovery Raises Awareness On Concussion Anew

Athletes who find themselves engaged in frequent physical play are more or less to suffer some brain-related issues.

The case of Australian sportswoman Jacinda Barclay should be a testament to that, and it was only when researchers opened up her brain did they discover the damage to it.

According to The Guardian, researchers found neurological damage to the donated brain of the late multi-sport individual. They called it a “ticking time bomb,” finding a degradation in Barclay’s cerebral white matter that is associated with sports such as American football.

Barclay played baseball, American football, and Australian football at extreme levels, and she was part of the Aussie national team in five Women’s Baseball World Cup.

She also played professional football with the Chicago Bliss in the Legends Football League and Greater Western Sydney in the AFL Women's.

With her involvement in multiple sports, Barclay was christened the “Sonny Bill Williams” of women’s sport in 2016.

She died at the age of 29 in October 2020 after a short but intense period of mental illness. It appears the discovery in her donated brain may have been part of the degradation of the cerebral white matter.

Furthermore, it is something that is understood to be a consequence of repetitive head injuries and also linked with mental illness.

However, researchers add that this is a bit unusual, especially for someone as young as Barclay.

“The vessels in the white matter had changes that you often see in elderly people, but not in someone of Jacinda’s age who is in peak physical health,” Michael Buckland, the executive director of the Australian Sports Brain Bank, stated. “An elite athlete shouldn’t have those changes.”

Buckland admitted that this discovery is something different compared to other subjects in the past. Also, there was not much reported on Barclay suffering from concussions in the past.

"Barclay did not have a substantial clinical history of concussion, and her brain did not show evidence of her having sustained a concussion in the weeks before she died," the report read.

The case of Barclay’s death has yet to be known, but her family was open to making the findings public to raise awareness about the institution’s work and focus on the research about women in this aspect.

“Jacinda loved sport and was a fearless advocate for women and women’s equality in sport,” the family said. “She always wanted to help people, and her donation to the brain bank means she can continue to help people and be a shining light for other women in the games that meant so much to her.”