Knock to the head and George was lost

After a rugby tackle gone wrong, her son didn’t remember who she was. A Brisbane mother is calling for more education on concussion.

A rugby tackle left 11-year-old George concussed and caused him to forget who his mother was.

After returning home from a game in April 2021, the Brisbane schoolboy felt as if he was surrounded by strangers, he did not recognise his dad and also forgot who his sister was. George was even unsure of who he was.

“He forgot where he was, who he was, and what was happening,” his mum Cathy tells The Weekend Australian.

The hours, days and months after the junior rugby player was dropped on his head in a play gone wrong was a harrowing ordeal. Not only for George, but his parents, who desperately searched for answers to help their son heal.

George was not knocked out cold by the tackle, rather it was a hit that left him dizzy and caused him to stumble.

At first those who saw it remarked it was just a “knock to the head” and he was sent straight home – no one understood the severity of it.

Cathy initially took George to the local emergency department, where she says doctors seemed relatively unfazed by her son’s odd behaviour and loss of memory.

She recounts that, returning to emergency weeks after the event with no improvement, one emergency doctor said: “Oh he’s not concussed, he remembered what sandwich he had for lunch yesterday.”

He was discharged – one of three separate occasions – while the family still dealt with their son’s loss of long-term memory.

On the night he was concussed, he turned to his mother and said: “I don’t know who you are, but you’re good, you can stay.” Cathy, who did not wish to have their family surname in the paper to protect their privacy, told The Weekend Australian: “He was a bit freaked out by his dad and his sister, but the bond is strong.”

His little sister remarked to Cathy: “Mum, when is George going to be himself again?”

George recalls the time being filled with confusion.

“My family and friends would get their iPhone out to show me who they were,” George said. “I could remember the tackle, getting up and stumbling around, but I could not remember my family.

“I couldn’t control my bladder at times. It was like, I don’t know what was happening to me. It was really hard.”

In the days and weeks after the tackle his condition became worse. He couldn’t go to school, he struggled to walk. He could only “crawl” around the house or “scoot around” on his bottom.

The family put gym mats around the house so he could make his way around comfortably. At times he lost control of his bladder. But his diminished memory – which faded in the days after – was of the most concern to Cathy.

At her wits end, after George’s 10th week being housebound, struggling with memory and most of the time bedridden, Cathy called Rugby Australia.

“We are not coping with this,” Cathy said to the Rugby Australia official. And while they had met several medical officials who downplayed George’s condition, Rugby Australia put the family on to a specialist GP, also the Reds doctor, Daelyn Cullen, and one of the few child neurologists, Ubaid Shah, who Cathy says understood what her son was going through.

“Both Dr Cullen, a local GP, and the neurologist explained that the head trauma had caused a functional neurological disorder that impacted the wiring to George’s brain. They said: ‘He’s not doing this on purpose, this is a real condition … the wires in his brain are struggling’,” Cathy said. “While other medical professionals looked at him and said come on, get on with it, this neurologist understood what he was going through.”

The disorder meant his brain needed to both repair and ­“re-wire” to learn basic functions and regain his memories.

Cathy has nothing but praise for Rugby Australia who helped with her son’s care.

George no longer plays schoolboy rugby union.

Now 13, George still struggles with fatigue.

“It’s been tough on him but he’s doing well,” Cathy said. “I just hope by sharing our story changes can be made to guidance on the field and across the medical profession, so families get the right care. Significant work needs to be done to prevent head injuries in sport.”