Collingwood star Harry O'Brien. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun
COLLINGWOOD star Harry O'Brien has revealed he questioned the value of life after witnessing the death of a man in Rio de Janeiro.
O'Brien, 26, speaking at a youth conference, told how the incident on Christmas Day, 2011, sparked a period of depression that affected him throughout 2012, including on the field.
O'Brien recalled how he went to the aid of a man who crashed his car into a light pole, and found the driver with blood streaming from a bullet wound in his neck.
"I locked eyes with him and it was possibly the most intimate moment I've ever had in my life as I watched the life being drained from this human being who had been shot," O'Brien said.
"I felt extremely helpless. I couldn't do anything but look into this man's eyes as he was trying to communicate with me."
O'Brien, who was staying with family in Rio, could not open the door of the mangled car.
"As I looked into the car I saw a young man, possibly in his late 20s just like myself, and he had a gaping hole in his jugular," he said.
"He'd been shot ... I was shaken up by it but I tried to keep my composure. I knew I had to get him out of the car.
"As I looked into the car I noticed he had a pistol on his lap. I was trying to open the door of the car but it just wouldn't budge. I felt extremely helpless."
O'Brien, born in Rio to a Brazilian mother and African father, moved to Australia when he was two.
He is heavily involved in social issues and was a speaker at a Model United Nations conference in Melbourne last month, where he addressed university students from around the globe.
He said he didn't experience the enormity of the incident in Rio de Janiero until two weeks later, after he returned home to Australia.
"I sunk into a depression," O'Brien said.
"I had terrible anxiety and post-traumatic stress and, as a result, my football, which is my current occupation, went downhill.
"My performance went downhill, my involvements out in the community.
"I had less of energy and I felt terrible. I had lost all faith in the world and I was contemplating whether or not I should be alive."
O'Brien said he had found peace of mind since addressing the tragedies in his life, which include more than the incident in Brazil.
He encouraged his audience to learn lessons from their own experiences.
O'Brien told SEN radio yesterday he had learned a lot about himself from confronting what he referred to as "those dark times".
"It was a real grind last year," he said. "But I got through it and I'm so much happier, the fittest I've ever been and I'm loving my football again."
O'Brien, a regular in the backline, shone on the wing during Collingwood's 16-point win against North Melbourne on Sunday.
"Pretty much right at the start of pre-season I spoke to all of the coaches and I asked if I could just get the opportunity (on a wing)," he said.
"I told them that I was preparing myself to have the best pre-season and get myself to a fitness level where it would be a huge asset to the team to be able to have the capability to play on the wing and add that string to my bow.
"I learnt the role over the summer. I got myself to the required fitness level and I'm just grateful to be getting that opportunity."
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