Truth Doesn't Have a Side: My Alarming Discovery about the Danger of Contact Sports

by Bennet Omalu, Mark Tabb (With), Will Smith (Foreword by)

Overview

One day in 2002 the fifty-year old body of former Pittsburgh Steeler and hall of famer Mike Webster was laid on a cold table in front of pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu. Webster’s body looked to Omalu like the body of a much older man, and the circumstances of his behavior prior to his death were clouded in mystery. But when Omalu cut into Webster’s brain, it appeared to be normal. Something didn’t add up.

It was at this moment, Omalu studying slides of Webster’s brain tissue under a microscope, that the world of contact sports would never be the same: the discovery of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. CTE can result in an array of devastating consequences including deterioration in attention, memory loss, social instability, depression, and even suicide. And Omalu’s discovery of CTE in the brain of an American football player has become the catalyst of a blazing controversy across all contact sports.

At the center of that controversy stands the unlikely Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian-born American citizen, a mild-mannered, gentle man of faith. It is fascinating that it would take someone on the outside of American culture to make this amazing discovery, and refuse to let it be kept hidden. Dr. Omalu began his life in strife, growing up in war-torn Nigeria. But his medical studies in forensic pathology proved to be a lifeline. It fed his natural curiosity and awakened within a deeper desire to always search for the truth. Who would have thought that such an unexpected character would play such a role in bringing to life this world-changing data?

In Truth Doesn’t Have a Side, discover the truth about CTE: Its causes and symptoms, how we might keep our children safe and guide professional athletes when CTE sets in. The problem of CTE is coming to light with each new story about an athlete’s concussion problem, and we are likely facing dramatic changes to professional sports. You’ll be inspired by Dr. Bennet Omalu a man driven by his love and concern for the welfare of all people, and his professional vow to speak the truth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310351962
Publisher:	Zondervan
Publication date:	08/08/2017
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	369,807
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Dr. Bennet Omalu is a Nigerian-American neuropathologist who discovered and named chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American football players, other athletes and military veterans. He is the chief medical examiner of San Joaquin County, California, and a clinical professor at the University of California, Davis. His story is told in the major motion picture Concussion, starring Will Smith. Bennet and his wife have two children and reside in Sacramento, California.

Mark Tabb has authored or coauthored more than thirty books, including the number one New York Times bestseller, Mistaken Identity.

Table of Contents

Foreword Will Smith 11

Preface: God Did Not Intend for Human Beings to Play Football 13

1 My Father's Son 17

2 Child of War 27

3 To Be Myself 37

4 Answered Prayer 45

5 "Heaven Is Here, and America Is Here" 55

6 Welcome to America 67

7 Through the Wilderness 77

8 Land of Contradictions 87

9 A Bold Gamble 99

10 Finding Myself 109

11 A Divine Appointment 119

12 Prema 129

13 A Game-Changing Diagnosis 139

14 Nearly Over before It Begins 151

15 The NFL = Big Tobacco 163

16 "In the Name of Christ, Stop!" 177

17 The Baton Is Passed 187

18 Marginalized, Minimalized, Ostracized 199

19 I Wish I'd Never Met Mike Webster 211

20 Finding Life in the Wilderness 223

21 Omaha Goes Hollywood 233

22 Concussion 245

23 From Doctor to Dad: What Will I Say When My Son Asks, "Can I Play Football, Pleeeaaaassse?" 255

Afterword: "I Bet My Medical License That O.J Simpson Has CTE" 265

Appendix: Questions from Parents about Brain Trauma and Contact Sports, Especially Football 269

Acknowledgments 285

Notes 289

Index 295

Editorial Reviews

★ 08/14/2017
Omalu (Play Hard, Die Young), the forensic neuropathologist who linked football with brain trauma and brought the wrath of the NFL down on his own head (as depicted in the 2015 film Concussion), tells his story in this rousing medical memoir. Omalu came of age in Nigeria during the brutal Biafran war and here chronicles his severe clinical depression, deep Catholic faith, and convoluted immigration to the United States, where he studied medicine. While Omalu worked at the Pittsburgh medical examiner’s office, he was handed the autopsy case for Steelers legend Mike Webster. Omalu found Webster had an extremely damaged brain; he surmised that the webs of dead brain cells in Webster’s brain were the result of repeated cranial blows and were the source of Webster’s depression, dementia, mood swings, and violence. This was the first documented case of what would become known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease so prevalent among professional football players that it could change the way the game is played. Omalu is adamant that no child should play a full-contact sport (though more than one million do), just as no child should smoke a cigarette. Helmets only provide protection for the skull, he writes, not for the brain. “Nothing protects the human brain from the force of impact experienced in full-contact sports. God did not design us for such impact,” writes Omalu. Enlightening and brave, Omalu’s memoir rounds out the highly influential work he has already accomplished. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

The name Bennet Omalu is one that many people may not be familiar with. But if you are a current or former athlete, a wife or a significant other of an athlete, or a parent of an athlete who competes or has competed in a contact sport that could produce concussions, his is a name you should know. His discovery of CTE gave a name to a cause of a neurological condition that many former athletes suffered from later in life. For many former football players like me, Dr. Omalu is our hero because he was that one person astute and bold enough to dig deeper in his neuropathology research to discover the cause of neurological ailments that may have af- fected countless former athletes long after the cheering stopped.

Harry Carson

Truth Doesn’t Have a Side is a critically important book. If you care about your brain or the brains of those you love, please read it.

Daniel G. Amen

Truth Doesn’t Have a Side is a provocative, passionate, and enlightening discussion of football, forensic science, and religious faith. Dr. Bennet Omalu’s research has focused much-needed attention on sports-related brain injuries. Whether readers agree or disagree with Dr. Omalu’s dramatic conclusions, they will find his life story fascinating, highly informative, and truly remarkable.

Dr. Cyril Wecht

Truth Doesn’t Have a Side tells the remarkable story of Dr. Bennet Omalu’s journey of perseverance in an imperfect world and his reliance on the absolute faithfulness of God. It is the story of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

Father Carmen D’Amico

If you want to understand Dr. Bennet Omalu, don’t look at the acronyms that come after his name or read the papers he’s authored; listen to his laugh. It’s the laugh of someone who possesses the freedom that can only come when you know that you are doing exactly what you were destined to do.

Will Smith

The world craves elite examples of courage from selfless crusaders who genuinely care first about the needs of others. Dr. Omalu is that man, and his story will inspire you and challenge the sleeping hero in each of us!

Ben Utecht

Dr. Bennet Omalu’s tireless pursuit of the truth is inspiring, and being able to relive his journey alongside him makes it all the more incredible. The world is a better place with doctors like Bennet Omalu in it.

actress and producer Giannina Scott

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