HE concerned fans last weekend when he appeared to be slurring his words on TV and now Chris Kamara has opened up his ongoing health battle.
The Sky Sports presenter and former footballer, 64, has been diagnosed with speech apraxia alongside an existing thyroid issue after his wife Anne urged him to get checked out for dementia.
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Doctors have not been able to tell him whether he will get better in time, but he is receiving treatment from a speech therapist in a bid to resolve the issue.
Apraxia of speech is a condition which makes talking difficult, with sufferers knowing what they’d like to say, but having trouble communicating their words.
Speaking about his prognosis on Good Morning Britain this week, he explained: “Because it is a neurological problem we don’t know. The experts don’t know.
“The brain is such a complex part of you that it is hard to say whether it is the thyroid that has brought this on. Will it get better in time?
“I am trying to use parts of my brain now that allow me to speak fluently, so I am with a speech therapist, I am with another therapist who is trying his best. So it is quite incredible really.
“The singing is not a problem, you can sing along all day long at the normal pace of a song, but talking when the apraxia kicks in makes it really difficult.
“Like I said, I am not after sympathy. There are so many people out there worse off than me.
“But I have come out and said it now, so it is there and hopefully people will understand when I sound a little bit not like myself.”
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Chris previously underwent a brain scan to check if he was developing dementia after suffering from what he described as “brain fog”.
His wife urged him to get help, with Chris revealed she said: “You’re blasé aren’t you? You think you’ve had a fabulous career and if it all ended tomorrow that would be fine.”
“I was like ‘yeah’ and she said: ‘What about the grandkids, what about me? Go and get it checked. There might be something you can do.'”
Chris worried the illness might be related to heading the ball during his sporting career.
However, his symptoms were instead explained by an underactive thyroid, for which he now receives treatment.
Fans were concerned as he covering Shrewsbury Town’s League One trip to Rotherham last Saturday afternoon, as they noticed he was slurring his words.
Several tweeted him, asking “are you OK mate?”.
The star and former Leeds, Brentford and Middlesbrough midfielder later revealed he was suffering from the health condition for the first time.
He later tweeted explaining that “Live TV” will have to take a “back seat” for now.
Chris and wife Anne have been married for 38 years after tying the knot in 1982. They have two grown-up sons, Ben and Jack.
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