Friday, March 29, 2024

GB hockey great Imran Sherwani diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease

British hockey great Imran Sherwani says he holds “no fears about the future” after he revealed on Wednesday that he has Alzheimer’s disease.

Sherwani, 59, who scored two goals in the 1988 Olympic final, was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s in December 2019.

“I have gone from fighting the disease to accepting it, and that has made every day easier to live through,” said Sherwani. “Every day of my life, I am thankful for having wonderful people around me, especially my lovely wife.

“I do not have fears about the future because I have always been very positive. I have had a brilliant life, I have achieved a lot in my career and with my family, so I can’t complain.”

Imran, famously ‘a newsagent from Stoke’ when he won Seoul gold, and his family first began to notice problems in 2014 when he had difficulties with his memory and had to retire from his director of hockey role at a Staffordshire school.

Fellow Seoul Olympian Steve Batchelor has now launched a team for this year’s Virgin Money London Marathon to raise money for Alzheimer’s Research UK in his team-mate’s honour.

The Marathon team, called ‘Going for Gold’, includes Imran’s son Zac. Steve said: “All of the 1988 Olympics team are still very close but, as we were both forwards, I have a particularly close relationship with Imran.

“When I heard he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s it was a shock. At the time I didn’t know a lot about Alzheimer’s. I thought of it as something older people get. I didn’t realise it could affect someone as young as Imran.”

Sherwani added: “I’m so thankful to Steve and the team for raising money for Alzheimer’s Research UK. I’m looking forward to hopefully cheering everyone on at the marathon.

Imran pictured with Steve Bachelor

“I hope that dementia research can help improve diagnosis so other people won’t have to go through the lengthy and difficult process I went through, and that treatments can be found to help people in the future.”

Hilary Evans, Chief Executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said she was “so grateful” to Imran for speaking out about his Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis.

Donations can be made to the Going for Gold team at https://justgiving.com/team/GoingforGold-LondonMarathon-ARUK

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1 COMMENT

  1. Dear THP,
    I was very saddening to hear the news about Imran on the BBC Breakfast programme on Tuesday.
    I only have an indirect connection to him in that Sean Kerly graced my school playing fields in the 1970s and I was a classmate of another GB ace: Ian Jennings.
    I have a keen interest in Hippocratic Medicine and I wonder if it would be inopportune ask whether Imran has tried dietary measures such Yarrow extract (yellow gentian) and walnuts , which are a great help for short-term memory loss. A daily gruel of large rolled porridge oats along with a liberal sprinkling of cinnamon on anything sweet stabilises your blood sugar. Bitter herbs such as rosemary and thyme on fatty meats are ideal for controlling your blood cholesterol.
    On the subject of bitters, diluted grapefruit juice is excellent for night cramps and sun-dried tomatoes is brilliant for ‘lactic’ hamstrings’. But best of all and to avoid embarrassing splash dashes to the john, are green olives in extra virgin olive oil. Finally and most importantly are sunflower seeds, rich in the antioxidant zinc, these are excellent for when you are tearful for no apparent reason:melancholy.
    Please pass on my best regards to Imran.
    Yours sincerely,
    Dave Antwi

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