Chris Kamara was in 'torture' as he opens up on being in dark place after diagnosis

Chris Kamara has shared that he felt "tortured" before opening up on his diagnosis of apraxia of speech. The popular football pundit, who is known for his upbeat personality and witty shouts, confessed that he once sunk into a dark place as his life changed drastically.

When his speech first started changing, back in 2019, Kamara initially feared he had dementia or Alzheimer's. Instead he was diagnosed with aspraxia - a neurological disorder that affects the brain's ability to control the muscles needed to form words, resulting in slower and more difficult speech. While he stepped back from his Sky Sports pundit role after the diagnosis, he has since returned to broadcasting and is focusing on managing his condition and helping others. When asked how he managed to stay so positive about the challenges that he faced with his diagnosis, Chris heartbreakingly admitted that he actually struggled and found himself in somewhat of a dark place. He refused to open up to family and friends about how he was really feeling at the time.

He told Express.co.uk: "To be honest, when I was going through it, I didn't have a strong mindset. I kept feeling sorry for myself and thought that I was the only one going through such a condition. A brain injury makes you feel that way in terms of the selfishness and thinking that all is not well and you can't possibly try and speak to anyone else as they will just wonder what's going on with you and your speech.

"In the beginning, it was hard to take. And then it just got worse. Until I reached out, and thank God I did, because I was just keeping everything to myself. I didn't speak to my wife or to my family."

Kammy explained that he decided to communicate in short sentences and use single-word replies, so he was speaking less and less, but now regrets not opening up sooner. "You're in torture, complete torture, until you speak to someone about it," he said. "The day that you tell everybody about the condition is the day that you start getting better."

Kamara has recently been working with energy firm EDF to help promote a new campaign to cut the costs of bills. EDF is supercharging Sundays with up to 16 hours of free electricity for customers who shift their electricity use away from peak hours (4pm-7pm) during the week through its Sunday Saver Challenge.

Explaining why he chose to get involved, the sports pundit said: "It just doesn't get any better than that really. There's no other electricity firm doing such a great offer."

He added: "Free electricity from EDF on a Sunday is obviously a real game-changer - you can get all of the big jobs you want to do done early, just in time to watch the game. It's all about planning your moves and playing to your strengths - that's how you win the week before it even kicks off. It's unbelievable, Jeff."