Martin Keown opens up on dementia fears after mother's 20-year ordeal

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Martin Keown has spoken openly about his own fears over dementia after completing 100 laps of the outfield at Lord's — more than 31 miles — to raise money for Alzheimer's Society.

The former Arsenal and England defender was joined by nearly 100 others for the walk, and by his wife Nicola, as he reflected on a condition that has shaped two decades of his family life.

Keown's mother Angela has lived with Alzheimer's for more than 20 years and now resides in a care home. Speaking to Daily Mail Sport, Keown revealed he turned down the chance to work with Arsene Wenger after his playing career in order to help his father care for her.

'The game you love has kind of taken away vital time'

Keown, who spent 21 years as a professional and won three league titles across two spells at Highbury, has previously acknowledged his concerns about the cumulative impact of heading a football. Towards the end of his playing days he experienced dizziness and double vision when heading a ball travelling at speed.

"The game you love has kind of taken away vital time ahead of me to spend with my loved ones," he said. "It's like a paradox, isn't it? But I made those choices. I didn't know the outcome that playing football would be so problematic. But I don't regret it."

Keown was keen to stress that the risk extends far beyond footballers. One in three people born in the UK will develop dementia in their lifetime, and one in three living with the condition do so without a diagnosis. Alzheimer's disease and dementia remain the biggest killers in the UK, accounting for close to 77,000 deaths a year, with no cure.

"We need to create an awareness of what's happening with dementia and Alzheimer's," he said. "How poorly it's funded and how, if you have a loved one in this terrible plight, how you get some help on this journey. Because it's a very difficult journey."

"It's not just something you get when you're old, let's be clear about that. When I go to visit my mum, I see quite young people. I wonder is it a carer or a patient and, invariably, it's a patient."

'Who is caring for the carer?'

Keown also detailed the toll the condition takes on families, describing how his father retrained himself entirely to keep his wife at home.

"Who is caring for the carer? My father said 'Look, we supported you for 22 years as a player'. I had a real dilemma but I needed to commit to my family," he said. "My dad said it was the biggest fight of his life to keep my mum at home. He learned to cook. He learned to sew. This was a guy that was in management and he just completely retrained himself."

The 59-year-old added that the experience can be all-consuming for families. "When you've got a loved one, you just get drowned in it all," he said. "It can demotivate you but we need to make sure that doesn't happen to other people. That's where the motivation has to be, doesn't it? All of this walking takes us a step closer to finding a cure."

Keown remains one of the most recognisable faces from Arsenal's title-winning sides of the late 1990s and early 2000s, and his willingness to discuss the link between heading and neurodegenerative disease adds another prominent voice to a debate the sport continues to confront.