ITV This Morning's guests Chris Kamara and Ben Shephard created a flurry of comments on social media this week. Chris took to the ITV daytime show to talk about the impact of living with a speech condition.
Former footballer turned sports pundit Chris, better known as Kammy, was discussing his health on the show. He was sharing his battle with speech disorder, apraxia, and how he had tried to cover up the condition. He first spoke out in March, according to the Manchester Evening News, after concerned fans had messaged him to ask if he was OK following an appearance on the weekly Sky Sports show, Soccer Saturday.
Kammy quit Sky Sports after 24 years but is now back on TV with a new ITV documentary - Chris Kamara: Lost For Words. He took to the This Morning sofa to chat to host Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary about his new show and explained his decision to talk about his health. He said: "We take for granted when we speak, it’s natural but the message from the brain to the mouth somehow gets confused and the words come out wrong or they come out slow or they don't come out at all."
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"That must be so frightening," said Alison. Chris replied: "Well, my voice was my life so that was hard to accept. That’s why I kept it quiet". He confessed that prior to his diagnosis he thought: "I’m going to wake up one day and it’s all gone."
Ben, who hosts ITV show Good Morning Britain (GMB), sat alongside the sports legend for the morning appearance. Chris said: "Today is a good day. It was in 2019 but I told no one, you know when something isn't quite right. I knew if I spoke in long sentences, I couldn't get the words out. I thought I'm going to wake up one day and it'll all be gone.
"I went to see the doctor in 2020 and they done tests and it was an underactive thyroid. It cured my thyroid but the delay of not seeing the doctor sooner caused issues. Then the speech issue came along which could have been the thyroid, but we don't know.'"
He went on to say: "I thought there’s no way I can tell anybody. I continued doing programmes and all of a sudden, people are tweeting me or asking my friends ‘is he OK? Is something wrong with him? Is he drunk? He’s slurring his words, he sounds slow. That’s when eventually my good mate here [Ben] got me to spill the beans on GMB."
Ben added to the discussion: "He was naturally very concerned because what Kammy doesn’t want is for him to feel the victim, for anyone to feel sorry for him." Complimenting his friend, and Ninja Warrior UK co-star, Ben added: "He is a national treasure. Going out with Kammy is like going out with Justin Beiber, it’s a nightmare.
"You can’t go anywhere without people stopping him for photographs or pictures, they all just want to say it, and that’s been really lovely for him to see that warmth and spirit." He later said: "You're throwing everything at it, that’s the point, everything and anything you can.
"Fortunately Kammy is in a position where he can do these things as well and the problem is that not everyone that’s going through this has that opportunity, because they can’t afford it or they don’t get offered the chance to go and try it. That’s the most important thing for me, and we’ve talked about this a lot, for Kammy right now, the most important part of what he’s doing is trying to help people out there that don’t have a voice, that potentially could benefit from."
Discussing the upcoming documentary, Ben added: "It’s full of hope and optimism and that’s what we want people to take from it." But as some questioned why Ben appeared on the show, others were quick to respond.
One fan of the show said: "For support, its his best friend!" Another added: "For support! They are best friends." A third said: "Aww Ben is his biggest cheer leader #ThisMorning."
Others were quick to praise Kammy. One said: "@chris_kammy @benshephard Great to see you guys on #ThisMorning raising awareness of #Apraxia Much love & respect to you Kammy #Legend." Another said: "@chris_kammy inspiring interview on #ThisMorning .. well done, Loving @benshephard aswell.. Merry Christmas lads."
The love for the pair continued: "Watching #ThisMorning with @chris_kammy what a brave and great guy and putting it out there well done Kammy such a funny man love him to bits and well done keep up the good work with @benshephard." Someone else shared: "Quite a hard watch this, @chris_kammy on #ThisMorning. Very brave man." With another adding: "We’re all behind you Kammy. Sending lots of love #ThisMorning."
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