Chris ‘Kammy’ Kamara was diagnosed with apraxia of speech in 2021, the former footballer and manager turned reporter in an ITV documentary opens up about life with the disorder.
Kamara’s professional playing career spanned 20 years, finishing at Bradford in 1995, before going on to manage them later that year.
Kammy would take charge of Stoke for three months in 1998, but after his dismissal he’d find his new calling and helping pave the way for the Soccer Saturday coverage football fans know and love today.
Full of life, Kamara never failed to bring smiles to those watching Soccer Saturday, his chemistry with ‘unbelievable’ Jeff Stelling was a match made in heaven, bringing historic moments such as ‘I dunno Jeff.’
However, in 2021 Kamara’s speech had become noticeably slower, this wasn’t the Kammy viewers were used to.
Going public
“I looked at my Twitter feed and people had noticed something was wrong” says Kamara.
Some viewers quizzed ‘are you drunk?’ And ‘are you having a stroke?’
Kamara would go public about his diagnosis, fearing how his colleagues would view him after he was overwhelmed by the amount of support he received.
“It made me realise people were with me, not judging me” he says.
Kamara’s son Jack, along with his partner Perdie say that before his diagnosis Kamara knew there was something going, they say that: “We started getting little bits and then he just stopped talking as much” and “we didn’t really know there was a problem.”
Moving on from Soccer Saturday
In May 2022, apraxia affected Kamara’s speech to the point he could no longer report on live television, and instead focusing on prerecorded television like Ninja Warrior UK.
The documentary shows a voice over recording session for the show, in which Kamara is joined by friend and co-presenter Ben Shephard.
“When I do work and it’s Ben is involved I feel safe” says Kamara.
Daily struggles
The documentary gives a true insight into the daily struggles someone with apraxia goes through, for the viewers some of Kamara’s quotes hit home hard, especially for those who have idolised him for his work on Soccer Saturday and Goals on Sunday.
“It doesn’t sound like me, it sounds slow, I’m embarrassed by it” Kamara says during his Ninja Warrior UK recording.
Whilst speaking to Steven Bartlett, on his podcast ‘diary of a CEO’ Kamara says “I feel a fraud in terms of broadcasting”.
Fans of Kammy’s boyhood club Middlesbrough Football Club, responded to this with a banner that read ‘you are not a fraud, you’re unbelievable Kammy’.
In the documentary we see Kamara return to Middlesbrough to speak at half time during their game with Bristol City and he thanks the fans for their support.
Spreading awareness
The main aim of this documentary is to help spread awareness of apraxia, Kamara meets 21-year-old Mikey who was diagnosed at only two and a half years old. He now campaigns to be able to help others with apraxia and dyspraxia, by spreading awareness.
Mikey highlights the lack of funding that children with dyspraxia and apraxia have, he has been campaign for extra funding since he was 13-years-old.
We see Kamara and Mikey meet with his MP Saqib Bhatti in the documentary to ask if he can bring the issue of apraxia and dyspraxia into parliament, which Bhatti agrees to and at the end of the episode we see him bring the issue up in the house of commons.
You can watch the documentary Chris Kamara: Lost for Words here.
