Happy Mondays raver Shaun Ryder reveals his family agony over father’s battle with disease

Graeme Donohoe Happy Mondays singer Shaun Ryder has spoken for the first time about his heartache over his father’s death from motor neurone disease.

The former wildman said his family looked on helplessly as dad Derek, 74, lost an agonising three-year fight against the killer cognitive condition in November.

Derek acted as the Happy Mondays’ soundman and tour manager and was the inspiration for the band’s hit Kinky Afro.

Speaking poignantly about his loss, Shaun, 56, told how the family went through hell as MND ravaged his dad’s body.

He said: “My old man was a proud bloke and it robbed him of his dignity. We had to do everything for him.

“He was in a bad way for three years. It was terrible. He couldn’t move, he could even swallow. He couldn’t even get to the toilet.

“Your brain stops being able to work the muscles. Everything goes.

“He used to have these itches and we had to scratch his back. He had an eyelash that was stuck in his eye for about three weeks and we just couldn’t get it for him.

“But he could still make us laugh even when he couldn’t speak. My dad was still trying to make jokes out of it.”

MND is the same debilitating illness that has struck former Scotland rugby hero Doddie Weir and ex-Rangers player Fernando Ricksen.

Shaun said he is determined to use his celebrity profile to raise awareness of the condition and hopefully find a cure. The Madchester legend – who will meet fans for a Q& A at Dundee’s Fat Sam’s nightclub on February 1, run by Events 105 – confessed his family were relieved that Derek’s death finally meant an end to his suffering.

He said: “I’m OK because it wasn’t as if he just dropped dead of a heart attack.

“He’s had three years of this state so we’ve had time to get used to losing him.

“We were all around him and he died at home. My dad wouldn’t go in the hospital – he wouldn’t have it.

“There was no diagnosis for ages because my dad simply wouldn’t go. He was just that generation that he wouldn’t visit the doc’s.”

Derek requested that Happy Mondays bandmates including Shaun, his bassist brother Paul, dancer and Celebrity Big