YOU CAN’T JUST BUY A NEW BRAIN, SAYS NOBBY’S WIDOW
THE widow of World Cup winner nobby Stiles has spoken for the first time about his battle with dementia. Stiles passed away in October at the age of 78 after suffering from alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. now his widow Kay has revealed how much the former Manchester United, Middlesbrough and Preston player suffered. The Stiles family have already backed Sportsmail’s campaign for change on the issue and yesterday Mrs Stiles called on football to look at the dangers of heading the ball in particular. Mrs Stiles said: ‘The first thing they tell you with dementia is that you won’t get better. ‘With nobby it just progressed and progressed and got worse as time went on. it’s a horrible thing, actually. ‘it really bugs me when you see adverts on TV with two old people sitting side by side saying that one can’t remember things. ‘it’s a hundred times worse than that. it’s agitation, it’s fear, it’s stress. all sorts of things they go through. it’s a horrible illness, absolutely horrible. ‘i don’t understand why dementia is classed as a condition and not an illness. When someone can’t look after themselves they are a danger all the time as they don’t know what they are doing.’ Mrs Stiles and her son John — himself a former player — spoke to Garry richardson on BBC radio 4’s Today programme yesterday. asked about the dangers of heading the ball, Mrs Stiles said: ‘nobody wants to spend the last years of their lives in the state these lads are in. ‘no matter how much money they are earning, you can’t buy a new brain. You just can’t.’ Talking about his late father’s final years, John Stiles said: ‘i would drive over to see my dad with knots in my stomach and feeling sick. ‘it was a living nightmare to see such a lovely man disappear in such a brutal way. ‘There has been criticism of the PFa (players’ union). They say they are going to start helping players more. i hope that’s the case. ‘What has really got us is that dementia is treated differently from other illnesses. ‘We want to see a system created that recognises the injustice of dementia. ‘Families are having to pay for the care and they shouldn’t have to. That’s not right.’