Peter FitzSimons vows to donate brain to science when he dies

He’s represented Australia as a Wallaby, written a best-selling book about quitting sugar and shown us how to rock a red bandana on any occasion, but there’s one more thing Peter FizSimons wants to impart on the nation after he’s dead and buried: his brain. 

Writing for the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday, FitzSimons explained that his brain will be given to the Australian Sports Brain Bank after his death in support of a newly launched initiative  investigating the link between head injuries and disease.

The 56-year-old suffered many concussions from blows to his noggin during his footy career, and was shocked to learn years later there was a “100 per cent” chance he had sustained brain damage as a result.

He wrote that in the early days of his career, no one worried about a few knocks to the head and what they could mean further down the road.

“It was rarely anything that couldn’t be fixed by some “magic water” – a sponge of cold water in your face – to get you back out on the field. And if it was a bad concussion then what magic water couldn’t do, some smelling salts – acidic fumes that seemed to go straight to your brain – surely could,” he wrote.

It wasn’t until years later, when he was working on a story about research on American footballers that had “established a causal link between the battering they had received and their early dementia” that he began to worry.

Wanting to aid the cause, FitSimons decided to donate his own battered brain to the research.

While organ donation for human life is something most Aussies are aware of, the idea of leaving your organs to science has only recently started to gain traction. 

In most cases, major universities and research organisations across Australia accept organ donations, which will be poked and prodded in the name of science. According to New South Wales Health, this can usually be arranged by contacting your nearest hospital, medical research facility or university.

While FitzSimons’ desire is to assist science when he dies, others donate their organs to help people with transplants. In Australia, there are around 1,400 waiting for various organ transplants, with the Australian Government Organ and Tissue authority warning that wait times can be anywhere between six months and four years for most patients. In extreme cases where appropriate matches can’t be found, the wait time can be even longer.

The tricky part about organ donation is that it’s not as simple as saying you will or won’t. In addition to letting your friends and family know, it’s vital that you update your details on the Australian Organ Donor Register page. Filling in the online form takes a couple of minutes and usually requires you to provide your name, postcode and Medicare number. You may also be asked to identify which organs and body parts you want to donate.

It’s also important to realise that all states in the country except South Australia have moved away from displaying organ donation statuses on driver’s licences, so the only way to make it official is to fill in the form on the Australian Organ Donor Register page. In the end, doctors and health professionals will always ask family if they agree to let your organs be donated, so it’s important to let them know of your intentions.

Will you donate your organs when you pass away? Is it important for celebrities like Peter FitzSimons to go public with their organ donation plans?