Exclusive:
Dean Windass, who appeared for a host of clubs during his 21-year playing career, has revealed he has been diagnosed with
Former professional footballer Dean Windass has broken his silence about his dementia battle and revealed how he broke down in tears of frustration during a memory test.
Speaking to the Mirror about his stage two dementia diagnosis, he told how he had kept quiet about the news for a year but insisted: “I’m all right. I’m not dying.”
Forward Dean Windass scored the most famous goal in Hull City ’s history when firing the Tigers to a historic first promotion to the top flight in 2008.
He pointed out he only agreed to speak out to help others. “My phone has gone mad because everyone thinks I’m dying. I’m not dying. I’m all right,” he said. “My son text to ask if I was okay.
“Of course I’m worried, I’m not being naive, I don’t want Kerry looking after me.”
But Dean, who has sons Josh, 31, and Jordan, 24, said: “I’m honestly fine. I’m not dying. I could walk out my front door and get run over. People don’t need to worry about me, it’s fine.”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in five years or tomorrow. I just get on with it. “
Talking about his diagnosis, he explained how he forgets names and things his partner Kerry tells him. In the end he went to get scans after turning to John Stiles, the son of 1966 England World cup hero Nobby Stiles.
Manchester United legend Stiles died in 2020 aged 78, having lived with dementia for a number of years. Since then his son has been fighting for change. Dean said: “Obviously because I’ve headed footballs there’s some sort of bleeding on my brain. It’s shown something. I went into the big machine.
“We went for these scans last year and that was the diagnosis they gave me, stage two dementia. I asked if there was any problem and they said ‘no, but they don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow’.
He told how John Stiles, had offered him guidance last year and sent a lady around his home to do some memory tests. “He actually sent a lady round to my house for two days and she put me through some tests and I started crying because I got real frustrated because I couldn’t do it.
“Basically it was like a test to say ‘television and bus’… there were 20 words opposite each other. And then she’d say repeat what I just said now and I couldn’t remember it and I was getting so frustrated about it.
“That did upset me, that frustrated me because I couldn’t remember. I didn’t know if it was the fact I was thick or what,” he joked.
He said he believes has headed far more than 20,000 balls over his career. The dad of two said: “I have headed thousands and thousands of footballers over a 20 year career. It was training every day, and part of my game was heading the ball anyway. I was doing a thousand balls a week easy.”
He said they asked him to do a Zoom call to get the results of a CT scan last year. “The scariest thing was when they rang me to say ‘we’ve got your results,’ they said ‘ can you do a zoom call’. I said to Kerry my partner something must be up. So I phoned John Stiles.
“I can’t remember doing the Zoom call, that’s the worst thing. I live day to day anyway. But the most important thing is to listen. I’m okay, I’m not dying.
“The moral of the story is, it’s not about me, it’s about John Stiles and the lads trying to get over ‘can the PFA help these families…if they’re in a home and these people can’t afford to put them in a home.
“It’s damaging people’s families financially. It’s important because these people need help.”
He added that he had put a post on social media to reassure people: “To be fair, I’m more than fine because I didn’t even know I had a brain.”
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