Laskas: Tell the truth and do what you believe in
Jeanne Marie Laskas, noted author of “Concussion,” talks with Congressman Tim Murphy at the conclusion of “An Evening with Jeanne Marie Laskas,” held in Peters Township Middle School Friday night. The event sponsored by Peters Township Public Library was moved to the middle school because of interest in the author. More than 300 people attended the event.
Author Jeanne Marie Laskas listens to a question from Congressman Tim Murphy Friday night in Peters Township Middle School.
Jeanne Marie Laskas, noted author of “Concussion,” answers questions about her book during “An Evening with Jeanne Marie Laskas,” held in Peters Township Middle School Friday night.
Moderators Maura Kelly and Joe Raffaele, Peters Township Library Book Club members, interview author Jeanne Marie Laskas, center, during “An Evening with Jeanne Marie Laskas” in Peters Township Middle School Friday night.
Jeanne Marie Laskas’ message was simple to the more than 300 people crammed into the Peters Township Middle School auditorium Friday night: Tell the truth and do what you believe in, she said. The Scenery Hill resident is the author of “Concussion,” a book that chronicles the life of Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian forensic pathologist who linked football with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE disease for short. It was recently turned into a movie starring Will Smith, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance.
Laskas, a regular contributor to GQ magazine and director of the creative writing program at the University of Pittsburgh, said the project began as an assignment in 2009 – one that she was initially reluctant to take – from an editor at the magazine. She was asked to find out more about the relationship between football and traumatic brain injury.
“I am not a sports or science writer,” said Laskas, who was in Peters Township Feb. 12 at the request of Peters Township Public Library.
But she started researching the topic and discovered Omalu, who at one time worked as a forensic pathologist for Allegheny County and former county coroner Cyril Wecht.
“I found Bennet Omalu, but he disappeared after two publications,” she said.
And that intrigued Laskas.
“I always wanted to write about Bennet Omalu,” she said. “He was working in a wretched mortuary and taking brains home to his Penn Hills apartment at night to study.”
One of the brains that particularly intrigued Omalu was that of Mike Webster, the Pittsburgh Steeler Hall of Fame center who died of a heart attack at age 50. During the last few years of his life, Webster was virtually homeless and in chronic pain, she said. To cope, Webster would resort to tasering himself and would super glue his teeth.
Laskas said Omalu found clumps of tau protein in the football player’s brain. While tau protein in a brain is considered normal, if it is found in clusters – as it was in Webster’s case – it could be a sign of traumatic brain injury. As a result, Omalu was able to show football players could suffer brain injuries, like boxers.
Laskas said it took time to develop a relationship with Omalu, who now lives in Sacramento and works for the University of California-Davis. But, she did eventually earn his trust and now considers him a close friend.
To research her book, she went to Nigeria, visited Omalu’s family and learned about his early life.
“Bennet’s father was the village chief and he was the second youngest of seven kids,” she said. “His father wanted him to become a doctor.”
Omalu, whom she called the brains of the family, was reluctant. But, he always did what his father wanted, she said.
“He fled Nigeria and fled his father as well,” she said.
Omalu ended up in Pittsburgh, where he went to work for Wecht, whom Omalu refers to as his “American father.” “Cyril saw something of himself in Bennet Omalu,” she said.
“Bennet survived the civil war in Nigeria,” she said. “Standing up to the NFL was nothing.”
Omalu is deeply religious and believes he is doing God’s work by studying the dead, she said.
He also chose to work alone and paid for much of his research himself, she said.
“But, once he found out Will Smith was playing him, he came out of his shell,” she said.
An audience member asked Laskas how the National Football League responded to her queries for information. Like Omalu, she said, she was ignored.
“I love football, and I love the Steelers,” Laskas said. “But, we have a situation here. When it comes to the kids, we can’t mess around.”
U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, who was in the audience, wanted to know how meeting Omalu has changed her.
“He has softened me around the edges,” Laskas said. “He has helped me understand the value of compassion.”
Laskas said her next project is an article for the New Yorker magazine on Igor Pasternak, a Ukrainian, who is developing an airship – think blimp – that could potentially change how cargo is handled.
Life, she said, has become chaotic and busier since the movie was released. She said she is gratified by the attention being brought to football safety, but still called football helmets “filtered cigarettes,” because they still can’t prevent brain injury.
She said Omalu started Bennet Omalu Foundation, an organization tasked with a mission to fund research, raise awareness and find a cure for CTE and traumatic brain injury. For more information, visit bennetomalufoundation.org.