Australian Sports Brain Bank diagnoses late Crows AFLW star Heather Anderson with degenerative brain disease CTE

Former Crows AFLW player Heather Anderson has become the first female professional athlete diagnosed with brain disease CTE – seven months after she took her own life.

Adelaide Crows premiership player Heather Anderson has become the first professional female athlete to be diagnosed with the degenerative brain disease CTE, seven months after she took her own life.

The milestone diagnosis has been confirmed by the Australian Sports Brain Bank, which says is “the tip of the iceberg” for female athletes increasingly participating in contact sports.

The late 28-year-old was an army medic who played eight games for the Crows in the 2017 season as a courageous defender, including the AFLW grand final win.

Throughout her sporting career, Anderson accrued several injuries including a confirmed concussion.

She took her own life in November last year and her death is subject to an ongoing coronial investigation.

The Australian Sports Brain Bank says she is the first professional athlete to be diagnosed with the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is associated with repeated head traumas from sport.

Adelaide Crows footballer Heather Anderson was given permission to wear a pink helmet during games in 2017.

“There were multiple CTE lesions as well as abnormalities nearly everywhere I looked in her cortex. It was indistinguishable from the dozens of male cases I’ve seen,” said Professor Michael Buckland, director of The Australian Sports Brain Bank.

He told ABC News the diagnosis was a significant step in understanding the effects of playing contact sport on women’s brains.

“While we’ve been finding CTE in males for quite some time, I think this is really the tip of the iceberg and it’s a real red flag that now women are participating (in contact sport) just as men are, that we are going to start seeing more and more CTE cases in women,” Professor Buckland told the ABC.

He said he found “low-stage CTE” in Anderson’s brain, consistent with her young age, and found “she had three definite lesions in her brain”.

“In other parts of the brain, there was just the hint of the start of the process. So definitely low-stage which would fit with Heather’s age. That's what we would expect to see,” he said.

Private Heather Anderson was drafted into the Crows squad when she was working as an army medic.

Professor Buckland co-authored a report on his findings with neurophysiologist Alan Pearce for the Springer Medical Journal.

Dr Pearce claimed the research on CTE has been limited because of the lack of support from major sporting codes.

Concussion Legacy co-founder and chief executive Dr Chris Nowinksi said research had shown women have an equal or greater susceptibility to concussion in contact sports, and Anderson’s diagnosis should be a wake-up call for the AFLW.

CTE can only be determined via autopsy but has been found in the brains of former VFL and AFL stars Graham Farmer, Danny Frawley and Shane Tuck – all players who suffered multiple head knocks during their careers.

Heather’s father, Brian Anderson, told ABC News he was still processing the diagnosis and “it was a surprise, but not a surprise”.

“I think now that this report has been published, I’m sort of trying to think about how it might play out for female sportspeople everywhere,” Mr Anderson said.

He said he hoped the brains of other deceased female athletes would be donated to the Australian Sports Brain Bank, so more research could be done.

Heather Anderson played for the Waratah Premier League team in the 2015-16 season.

She received a premiership medal with the Crows in 2017. Picture: Tom Huntley

Speaking to The Advertiser following Heather’s death, Mr Anderson said the “sadness in the family (was) palpable”.

“The response to the news of Heather taking her own life have shown us that she had friends, teammates, and fellow soldiers all across the country,” Mr Anderson said.

The Crows also said they were “deeply saddened by the unexpected passing of the Premiership player Heather Anderson” and had sent their “thoughts and prayers to her family and friends”.

Anderson dislocated her shoulder in the grand final win over Brisbane and didn’t play another game for the Crows, but “remained a really strong supporter of our team and a friend to everyone involved in the program” said Adelaide’s head of women’s football, Phil Harper.