Manchester United and Scottish grandmaster Denis Law have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, the 81-year-old said in a statement on Thursday.
Forward Law, who won the Ballon d’Or in 1964 and is third on United all-time lists behind Bobby Charlton and Wayne Rooney with 237 goals in 404 games, said the road ahead is “tough, demanding, painful and” would be changing all the time.
“I’ve gotten to the point where I feel like I want to talk openly about my condition. I was diagnosed with “mixed dementia,” which in my case is more than one type of dementia … Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, “Law said on United’s website.
“This was an extremely difficult year for everyone and the long periods of isolation certainly didn’t help.”
Law described the illness as “incredibly challenging” and that he saw how many friends went through it.
“They hope this doesn’t happen to you, even joking about it while ignoring the first signs because you don’t want it to be true,” added Law.
“You get angry, frustrated, confused and then worried, worry about your family as they will be the ones who will take care of it. It is time to tackle this head-on though, sorry for the pun.
“I see how my brain deteriorates and how my memory dodges me when I don’t want to, and how this causes me stress in situations that are beyond my control.”
