Brett Ratten makes sad revelation about daughter in devastating admission from AFL great

Former AFL player and coach Brett Ratten has made a devastating admission about his daughter's health battle during a podcast to help raise awareness for the Epilepsy Foundation. The Carlton great and former Blues, St Kilda and North Melbourne coach is taking part in the annual Walk for Epilepsy event and has opened up on the heartbreaking situation around his daughter, Tilly, who suffers from the condition.

Ratten's story is an immensely sad one, with the 53-year-old losing his 16-year-old son Cooper to a fatal car crash east of Melbourne in 2015. Four years after that tragedy rocked the lives of Ratten and his family, the Carlton premiership great's daughter Tilly began suffering from debilitating seizures, with Ratten revealing that they could come on up to 30 times per day.

“Her seizures are a little bit different,” Ratten said on the AFL.com.au podcast, Between Us. "We (initially) didn’t know if it was absentee epilepsy or focal epilepsy. Her head went to the side and then you would see the whites of her eyes and she would stop and freeze and pause for 20 or 30 seconds. She would have up to 30 a day, but then when the medication came in, it started to affect her balance, so she started to fall over.”

Brett Ratten reveals scary nature of daughter's seizures

Ratten was renowned for being a tough, no-nonsense midfielder during his playing days with Carlton that included a premiership and three best and fairest awards with the club he played 255 with from 1990 to 2003. But the 53-year-old admits seeing his little girl suffer was extremely difficult to take and says he wished he could have traded places with her.

“Your heart goes out to think ‘could you give it to me’ and then I can deal with it,” he said. "But you can’t. The good part was we found out what it was, so then you can start the process of trying to deal with it.

“We were quite fortunate it took around three months and then the seizures started to stop. That was great. At one point the medication kicked in and the seizures stopped and we’ve been fortunate since. But touch wood, she is going really well. We have learned how to manage it and all that and she is getting constant assessment, which is great.

"She is 12 now and as you know, as you grow through those years the brain changes and all these things. So it is just trying to make sure that we've got everything in place."

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Brett Ratten makes devastating admission about late son

Ratten also touched on the unfathomable death of his teenage son Cooper, who is never far from the thoughts of the AFL great. The teenager died after the car he was travelling in was struck by a drunk driver, who was convicted and jailed for five years over the tragedy.

Cooper was a promising junior footy player but his life was cut short when a car being driven by a fellow teenager veered off the road and crashed at Yarra Glen almost 10 years ago. Ratten says his late son is still very much in his thoughts but admits the mention of his name can sometimes reduce him to tears.

“Some days I can say his name and nothing, I’m OK,” Ratten said. “And then other days I say his name and it’s waterworks everywhere. He’s not with us, but he’s with us every day.”