Ryan Jones, a former rugby star who was the captain of the Wales national team, has been diagnosed with early onset dementia. In an interview with the Sunday Times, Jones, 41, said he feels like his “world is falling apart.” Jones received the diagnosis in December last year with the doctors telling him he was one of the worst cases they have ever seen. The three-time Grand Slam winner was also diagnosed with probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
“I feel like my world is falling apart. And I am really scared,” Jones told the Sunday Times, per Reuters. “I lived 15 years of my life like a superhero and I’m not. I don’t know what the future holds. I am a product of an environment that is all about process and human performance. I’m not able to perform like I could. And I just want to lead a happy, healthy, normal life. I feel that’s been taken away and there’s nothing I can do … (rugby) is walking headlong with its eyes closed into a catastrophic situation,”
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Jones said he began to have short-term memory problems after being diagnosed with depression. “It terrifies me because I don’t know if, in two years’ time, we’re sat here and these episodes are a week long, two weeks long or permanent,” Jones explained, per The Guardian. “That’s the fear, that’s the bit that never leaves. That’s the bit I can’t shake off. Every episode I have also leaves a bit of a legacy. Everything we cancel, every relationship that I poison or don’t have time for anymore, just makes it a little bit tougher to cope. I don’t know how to slow that down, make it stop, what to do.”
Jones made his debut with Wales in 2004 and was with the team for 10 years. He helped the team win Grand Slams in 2005, 2008 and 2012 and was named captain in 2008. Jones appeared in 75 matches and scored 10 points in his career for Wales. He also played for the British & Irish Lions team in 2005 and appeared in three matches. Jones began his club play in 1998 and played for five different organizations until he retired in 2015. He spent 10 years with Ospreys and appeared in 150 matches.ย
