Mcdermott opens up on ‘fight’ against dementia
Terry Mcdermott, the former Liverpool, Newcastle and England midfielder, has issued a heartfelt thank you for the messages of support that “will help me in the fight” following the disclosure that he has been diagnosed with dementia.
“I’m touched and overwhelmed by them all – each one is appreciated,” said the 69-year-old, who admitted that a “frightening” number of former footballers had also been diagnosed with neurodegenerative disease.
These include Denis Law, the former Manchester United and Scotland striker who went public with his diagnosis last Thursday and believes his condition was caused by repeatedly heading a football.
Dawn Astle, the daughter of former England striker Jeff Astle, has persistently warned that dementia is endemic among former footballers and landmark research, led by Dr Willie Stewart at the University of Glasgow, recently confirmed that outfield players were four times more likely to suffer neurodegenerative disease.
They are also five times more likely to die of Alzheimer’s, four times more likely to die of motor neurone disease and at a doubled risk of Parkinson’s.
“Nothing has come to me easily,” Mcdermott said in a statement on the Liverpool website. “I’m not frightened of taking it on. Battling is second nature. The worst thing was, until my condition was diagnosed you don’t know what’s going on.
“The number of explayers being diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s is frightening.”
Mcdermott was both Professional Footballformer
ers’ Association and Football Writers’ Association player of the year in 1980 and, after returning to Newcastle in 1982, became assistant manager alongside Kevin Keegan, his former team-mate.
In a statement, Liverpool sent their “love and best wishes” and pledged “any and all support” to a player whose career included three European Cup wins with the club. Mcdermott intends to remain a regular spectator at Anfield this season. Stewart has called on football to face up to the dementia crisis and examine how to limit heading and head impacts to mitigate a continuous repeat of the nightmare that hundreds of football families are facing. His study of almost 8,000 players has found no reduction in dementia rates through the generations between the 1930s and 1990s. The Football Association has published guidance that recommends no more than 10 training headers per week in grass-roots football and a maximum of 10 “high-impact” headers among professional players.