CFL Concussions: Bob McKeown’s Story from the Field - the fifth estate

As we head towards the 104th Grey Cup, fifth estate host Bob McKeown presents a very personal story about brain injury and professional football. Before his career at the CBC, Bob was a Grey Cup champion offensive lineman with the Ottawa Rough Riders in the 1970s. In an era when concussions weren’t talked about, Bob recounts sustaining several of them during his career. One so punishing that after a game he threw up all night and had a blinding headache for a week. But he, like all then other players back then, never told the doctors or trainers. Bob tells the stories of his former teammates who are suffering from Alzheimer’s or who passed away after years of battling dementia. Meanwhile, the CFL has offered no support or compensation to past players who are suffering from degenerative brain diseases. Which leads Bob himself to wonder, what does the future hold for his own health? While Bob awaits his fate, he decides to make his own contribution to future science by signing up to donate his brain after his death to a concussion research clinic that is studying Canadian football players.

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About the fifth estate : For four decades the fifth estate has been Canada's premier investigative documentary program. Hosts Bob McKeown, Gillian Findlay and Mark Kelley continue a tradition of provocative and fearless journalism. the fifth estate brings in-depth investigations that matter to Canadians – delivering a dazzling parade of political leaders, controversial characters and ordinary people whose lives were touched by triumph or tragedy.