Chris Kamara breaks down in tears over speech apraxia and has fans ‘crying too’
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Soccer Saturday legend Chris Kamara broke down in tears while discussing his ongoing battle with speech apraxia on Good Morning Britain.
The former footballer says he was "ashamed" he couldn't speak properly and was "in denial" about his condition for some time after his diagnosis. "I went to see a brain specialist and I was only in there for two minutes and he said, 'You've got Apraxia of Speech', where the connection between the brain and mouth breaks down and you can't say the words," he revealed.
"Your mouth can't control itself. The words come out very slowly. I thought that defined me. So my apologies to everyone out with there with a speech condition, because it doesn't define who you are." Tearing up, he added: "I get upset talking about it, because I was in denial. I was ashamed that I couldn't speak."
READ MORE: Chris Kamara says Soccer Saturday became 'awful and terrifying' as he battled apraxia
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Viewers admitted they were in bits listening to Kammy, with one X user writing: "Honestly my heart bleeds for Chris Kamara. One of the very good guys in life. Another said: "Ahhhhh s***. Seeing Chris Kamara shedding a tear, has got me crying like a baby."
"Chris Kamara on GMB Jesus Christ who’s cutting onions?" wrote a third. A fourth added: "Just watching Chris Kamara on GMB, what a lovely man, such an inspiring person. I haven't got up yet and I am in floods of tears watching him."
Sum up Chris Kamara in three words in the comments section below.
Kamara played football for the likes of Brentford, Stoke and Leeds, and had a notable three-year stint managing Bradford, but he won the nation's heart during his lengthy stint as a match reporter on Sky Sports' Soccer Saturday show. He left the company in 2022 after nearly a quarter-of-a-Century in the role, shortly after his Apraxia of Speech diagnosis.
In his book, titled Kammy, the 65-year-old said he saw himself as "a burden" and thought his family would be "better off" without him while suffering silently from speech problems. He wrote: "I’m a man who has always wanted to help, to provide, to love and nurture those around me. And now I could only see myself as a burden. A shell of the man I used to be that they would be left to look after.
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"Seeing myself like that was like staring into an abyss. I could never reconcile that image in my head. It was unthinkable. And it’s at that point I’d think, 'They’d be better off without me'."
- Chris Kamara
- Premier League
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