Former rugby league player Josh Jones says head injuries made him contemplate suicide

Jones says he developed various symptoms after suffering regular concussions during training and matches.

Speaking to BBC Sport from Malaysia, where he and his family now live, he said: “I noticed that if I was doing simple tasks, like making a water bottle for my kids, trying to pour it, trying to steady my hand, putting a card in the card machine, putting the keys in the door, I couldn’t stop shaking.”

“And that’s when things started to get worse: headaches, brain fog, neck pain, eye pain… I’m sensitive to light and noise, anxiety, depression.

“The scariest thing I find is not being able to regulate my emotions. That scares me. I get over it by just taking myself away. It’s been to the detriment of our marriage sometimes and being a father and my friends… I isolate myself a lot.”

“I will never let my kids play, and that’s really sad.”

Jones’ wife Olivia told BBC Sport that the changes in her husband’s personality were “very late in the beginning” but had become “impossible to ignore”.

“He went from being confident, energetic and present to being withdrawn, irritable and forgetful – and seemed to be constantly in pain,” she said.

“He would often complain of headaches, brain fog, and anxiety, and it became very scary for me.”