I’ve been so close to suicide, says rugby World Cup winner Steve Thompson

Rugby World Cup winner Steve Thompson has revealed there were times while filming his BBC documentary about struggling with dementia that he wanted to end his life.

The 43-year-old former England hooker, part of the team which lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in Australia in 2003, was diagnosed with early-onset dementia and chronic traumatic encephalopathy in November 2020.

The former sportsman stars in BBC documentary Head On: Rugby, Dementia And Me which will see him meet brain experts to better understand his progressive and expansive memory loss.

Thompson told the PA news agency: “We’re very private people and before the diagnosis I wasn’t involved in media, we were just living a normal life.

“And then suddenly with the diagnosis, learning what we learned about what was going on and how many people it affected, we made the decision that we had to stand up for people and come out and that’s what we have done.

“Having the cameras in and out is quite hard, it’s a long slog because it’s over an 18-month period. It was an emotional rollercoaster all the way through.”

Thompson previously revealed he had been placed on suicide watch as his struggle with dementia took him to the brink of despair.

He told PA: “I don’t know how I’m still alive to be honest because I’ve been so close to suicide. Even through filming the documentary there were times when I just wanted to end it and I had just had enough.

“It was my doctor that really kept me alive, giving me little hints about perfume on the arm, memory phones, music, so whenever I was feeling really anxious or really low, you try and bring yourself back to your family which keep me alive.

“For me, this is why I have done it, so people see these little tips or see this happening to me,