SunLife Press Office

‘You can’t afford to waste time when you’ve got dementia.’ This Thursday, when the England and Wales players walk out ahead of their international match, they’ll walk side by side with 22 fans living with dementia. Steve is one of the fans who will be joining the teams at Wembley Stadium. ‘I’ve always been a footballer. Apparently, as the story goes, I played football against Gary Lineker at school at a teenager – and we won 3-1! ‘I still have a season ticket spanning 40 years at Leicester City. My wife, Carol and my son accompany me to home matches now. I was also the football manager for my son’s team for 10 years and we were very successful. Football has been a big part of my life. Steve realised something was wrong in 2012 when he started experiencing confusion at work. ‘I was made redundant and, after taking up other jobs, I found that I was making mistakes and was struggling to cope and retain information. I resigned in 2014 and never worked again after that. But I never thought it was dementia. I was only 54 years old. ‘I went to the doctors and was diagnosed with stress, anxiety and depression. ‘One doctor told me that I should "pull myself together" and come back in three months if I didn’t feel any better. ‘I felt I was trapped in limbo - knowing that something was happening to my body that I couldn’t control. ‘Then, in late 2017, I watched the TV documentary, Alan Shearer: Dementia, Football and Me, and it pushed me to go back to the doctors, along with Carol. ‘I saw a different doctor who was really understanding and referred me straight away to the memory clinic. ‘That’s when I was diagnosed with young-onset dementia. I was 57 years old. ‘That was a big shock. But at least now I knew that there was a reason for what was going on. ‘Finally in January 2019, after brain scans, I was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. ‘My advice to anyone worried about themselves or a loved one - don’t go on your own to the doctors like I did, take someone with you. I think that would have helped with getting an earlier diagnosis.’ Don’t miss watching Steve and the other 21 mascots make football history on the 9 October.