Man Utd great Denis Law talks about dealing with dementia
Former Scotland international says the road ahead will be ‘hard, demanding, painful and ever changing’
19 August 2021 - 15:42
byShrivathsa Sridhar
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Statues of George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton at Old Trafford. Picture: REUTERS
Bengaluru — Manchester United and Scotland great Denis Law has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, the 81-year-old said in a statement on Thursday.
Striker Law, who won the Ballon d’Or in 1964 and is third on United’s all-time list of scorers with 237 goals in 404 matches behind Bobby Charlton and Wayne Rooney, said the road ahead would be “hard, demanding, painful and ever changing”.
“I’m at the point where I feel I want to be open about my condition. I’ve been diagnosed with ‘mixed dementia’, which is more than one type of dementia, in my case ... Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia,” Law said on United’s website.
“This has been an extremely difficult year for everyone and the long periods of isolation have certainly not helped.”
Law described the disease as “incredibly challenging” and said he had witnessed many friends go through it.
“You hope that it won’t happen to you, even make jokes about it whilst ignoring the early signs because you don’t want it to be true,” Law added.
“You get angry, frustrated, confused and then worried, worried for your family, as they will be the ones dealing with it. However, the time has come to tackle this head-on, excuse the pun.
“I recognise how my brain is deteriorating and how my memory evades me when I don’t want it to and how this causes me distress in situations that are beyond my control.”
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Man Utd great Denis Law talks about dealing with dementia
Former Scotland international says the road ahead will be ‘hard, demanding, painful and ever changing’
Bengaluru — Manchester United and Scotland great Denis Law has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, the 81-year-old said in a statement on Thursday.
Striker Law, who won the Ballon d’Or in 1964 and is third on United’s all-time list of scorers with 237 goals in 404 matches behind Bobby Charlton and Wayne Rooney, said the road ahead would be “hard, demanding, painful and ever changing”.
“I’m at the point where I feel I want to be open about my condition. I’ve been diagnosed with ‘mixed dementia’, which is more than one type of dementia, in my case ... Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia,” Law said on United’s website.
“This has been an extremely difficult year for everyone and the long periods of isolation have certainly not helped.”
Law described the disease as “incredibly challenging” and said he had witnessed many friends go through it.
“You hope that it won’t happen to you, even make jokes about it whilst ignoring the early signs because you don’t want it to be true,” Law added.
“You get angry, frustrated, confused and then worried, worried for your family, as they will be the ones dealing with it. However, the time has come to tackle this head-on, excuse the pun.
“I recognise how my brain is deteriorating and how my memory evades me when I don’t want it to and how this causes me distress in situations that are beyond my control.”
Reuters
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most Read
Related Articles
Chelsea look too strong for shaky Arsenal
Lukaku returns to Chelsea as a ‘new version of myself’
Chelsea, Man United and Liverpool get off to flying starts
Published by Arena Holdings and distributed with the Financial Mail on the last Thursday of every month except December and January.