CHRIS KAMARA has opened up on the heartbreaking way he was forced to call time on his Sky Sports career.
The much-loved football pundit was a mainstay on fans’ TV screens for over two decades, which in itself followed a playing career spanning 20 years.
His double act alongside Jeff Stelling on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday produced entertainment gold time and time again.
However, in March 2022 “Kammy”, as he is affectionately known to many, shared details of the condition he was suffering with, apraxia, a neurological disorder disrupting the transfer of thought from brain to speech.
But three seasons on, Kamara is making a triumphant return to TV to reunite with Stelling on Amazon Prime watching Nottingham Forest face Tottenham.
In an interview with the Mirror, Kamara opened up on how he was encouraged to open up about his condition and how revealing it to the world changed everything.
He said: “My last game for Sky was at Rotherham against Shrewsbury, and when I got back to the car I knew I had made a complete balls-up of it.
“When I checked my phone, on Twitter there were loads of comments with people saying, ‘He must have been drunk’ or ‘has he had a stroke?’
“I rang my therapist and said, ‘This can’t continue. I can’t go on like this.’ And he replied, ‘You can – but you need to tell everyone what’s going on.’
“That’s when I resolved to ‘come out’ and it was the moment that changed everything.”
While it seemed his TV career was now over, Kamara was recommended a revolutionary treatment in Mexico to help rekindle his spontaneity by Good Morning Britain host Kate Garraway.
He continued: “Suddenly people were 100 per cent supportive and there were so many offers of help.
“Thankfully, one of them came from Kate Garraway, whose husband Derek had gone over to Monterrey in Mexico for treatment after contracting Long Covid.
“She said it had helped to stimulate parts of his brain so he could read again, for example, and she said, ‘Why don’t you give it a go?’ I’ve been over to Mexico three times and it’s made such a difference.”
And help it has with Kamara now in line to make an emotional return to our screens in a truly feel-good Christmas story.
His efforts to raise awareness of the disorder saw the now 66-year-old awarded an MBE last year for services to football, charity and anti-racism.
On his return, he said: “It was surreal to get that phone call from Andrew ‘Buzz’ Hornet, who was one of the first football producers at Sky Sports.
“I was on my way to a Paul Heaton gig in Manchester – I’ve known Paul since I played for Sheffield United, he’s a big Blades fan and me invited over to one of his concerts – when Buzz called.
“I thought, ‘What does he want? And Buzz says, ‘How do you fancy being reunited with Jeff on Boxing Day?’ Er, yes – in what capacity? ‘Reporting on live football, like you normally do, at Forest v Spurs.’
“How could I refuse? It might be one last hurrah for me in terms of covering football on the box, but to work with Jeff again will bring a bit of extra magic to Christmas for me.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support.
The following are free to contact and confidential:
Mind, www.mind.org, provide information about types of mental health problems and where to get help for them. Email info@mind.org.uk or call the infoline on 0300 123 3393 (UK landline calls are charged at local rates, and charges from mobile phones will vary).
YoungMinds run a free, confidential parents helpline on 0808 802 5544 for parents or carers worried about how a child or young person is feeling or behaving. The website has a chat option too.
Rethink Mental Illness, www.rethink.org, gives advice and information service offers practical advice on a wide range of topics such as The Mental Health Act, social care, welfare benefits, and carers rights. Use its website or call 0300 5000 927 (calls are charged at your local rate).
Heads Together, www.headstogether.org.uk, is the a mental health initiative spearheaded by The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales.
“Of course, I’m not 100 per cent, but I’m 70 per cent better than when I first disclosed my condition in public and I feel like I’ve got the old Kammy back.”
Kammy added: “The one thing about my job at Sky that I guarded more than anything was being spontaneous.
“I’ve lost that ability in a way but I’m going to try and wheel it out on Boxing Day.
“If I started to rehearse lines in my head, or tried to prepare some premeditated lines, then I would be guaranteed to mess it up.”
Yet before his apraxia diagnosis, Kamara had feared he could have been another case of an ex-footballer suffering with dementia.
He explained: “Doctors asked me how many concussions I had suffered as a player – there were three.
“And of course there were dark moments where it messes with your head.
“You’re doing these reports live to camera and I know I’m not me any more, but I’m not letting anyone or anybody know what’s going on.
“These little voices in your head are asking, ‘Could it be dementia? Could it be Alzheimer’s?’ Now I know the truth, I can handle it.
“I’m working as much as I can, especially to help children with speech and language conditions, and I’ve stopped being a bloke who’s too stubborn to ask for help.
“The past of my brain that’s been affected is the one that governs your memory speech fluency, but I can still sing and I can still do a Scottish accent – or both.”
Dementia – the most common form of which is Alzheimer’s – comes on slowly over time.
As the disease progresses, symptoms can become more severe.
But at the beginning, the symptoms can be subtle or mistaken for normal memory issues related to ageing.
The US National Institute on Aging gives some examples of what is considered normal forgetfulness in old age, and dementia disease.
You can refer to these above.
For example, it is normal for an ageing person to forget which word to use from time-to-time, but difficulting having conversation would be more indicative of dementia.
Katie Puckering, Head of Alzheimer’s Research UK’s Information Services team, previously told The Sun: “We quite commonly as humans put our car keys somewhere out of the ordinary and it takes longer for us to find them.
“As you get older, it takes longer for you to recall, or you really have to think; What was I doing? Where was I? What distracted me? Was it that I had to let the dog out? And then you find the keys by the back door.
“That process of retrieving the information is just a bit slower in people as they age.
“In dementia, someone may not be able to recall that information and what they did when they came into the house.
“What may also happen is they might put it somewhere it really doesn’t belong. For example, rather than putting the milk back in the fridge, they put the kettle in the fridge.”
