Quote: Juan Cornetto "What a terribly heartbreaking situation to have befallen John and Carol which has destroyed their retirement years with no hope of improvement. I have many memories of Atky's marvelous achievements on the rugby field which date back to playing in the same school team which John did when he was a year younger than the rest of us. I followed his career after he signed for Leeds and was fortunate to witness most of his many tries. To see him now is tragic and for Carol it is worse than tragic. It would be nice to think that the supporters club might organize some support which could include taking him to some matches which would give Carol some relief.'"
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Juan
I also watched Look North last night and felt saddened by what I saw. I'm not a leeds fan but do recall John in years gone by as a player and indeed a legend of your club. I also had the pleasure of meeting him professionally about 18 years ago, when I was the only person in the room who knew he'd played the game and at what level. He gave no indication of who he was, what he'd achieved etc but that day I shot home and got out my old John Player year books so I could take them in to work the next day to demonstrate to my colleagues just who it was they'd met the previous day.
I too thought last night that if there is one thing some organisation like the supporters club could do is something like you suggest...take him to the game, out to the pub to watch a game etc.
I think it's potentially a great idea assuming he still enjoys the game. One of the sad things about dementia is he may not even know he's a legend!
A final thought and it's not meant nastily...but if he agrees to a game one of the things really hit me last night watching the show is it's not just the memory failing it's stuff like he's averse to a shower etc...the sort of thing most people will instantly judge somebody by!
Best wishes to John and family.
