Daughter's cheeky response to Rugby dad as he struggles with common condition

“I felt lost for a long time and I just didn’t know why,” rugby World Cup winner Steve Thompson tells me. We have met at Prenton’s Home Instead headquarters.

The home care company had invited members of the public to experience the rare chance of stepping inside a specially adapted truck that replicates the impact of having dementia - a syndrome the former England player, Steve is very familiar with.

The dad-of-four was diagnosed with early-onset dementia at the age of 42. Steve, now 46-years-old, believes it was the sport he once loved that caused the condition and as a result, lost core memories - including winning the World Cup, meeting the Queen, and the majority of his 20s.

Steve said the memory of his children’s birth is now starting to fade. The former hooker, who helped the British Lions secure a 20-17 victory over Australia in 2013, told the ECHO: “I would go out in the garden for tools and get halfway there and forget why I was even out there in the first place.

“The same for cooking, I used to love it. But, if I were making a meal that took a while, I would put the pan on, walk off and forget it was still on. I felt lost and I didn’t know why. You turn into a baby again and need help with nearly everything in life in some way, but you just have to get on with it.”

After struggling with mood swings, memory loss and talking with Wales International Alix Popham, who was struggling himself, Steve had tests done in November 2020 during lockdown. He said they showed severe brain damage from repeated head injuries he had endured during his rugby career. Initially, Steve said it was “a lot” to take on at first as he still had the masculine outlook that medicine was for “weak people”.

Now, four years on from his diagnosis, the football coach claimed the condition changed his outlook on life. He added: “I used to think about what I could do in the past and what I can’t now. But that’s just life and for me now, I just live for the kids. I look at the glass half full now - I’ve had better times with my kids than before. It always used to be about the work-life balance and I would say ‘We will do it next weekend’, but now we just do it as a family.

“We have a lot of dark humour in our family. When I look at my kids and I can’t remember their names, we just laugh. My eldest Seren will egg me on and say ‘Three attempts at my name or you owe me a tenner’. The kids know by my expression and just fill it in for me. I want my kids to come and see me not that they have to come and see me.

“They are acting like my carers already. I take one of them with me to my doctor's appointments and I take another with me if I have to do TV appearances. They keep me together and help me on the trains. They don’t even know they are doing it but they are.”

Steve was joined in attendance at the virtual event with his wife Steph. The two share four children - Seren, Slone, Saskia, and Saxon. The family have been focused on helping others through Steve’s Head On Foundation.

The charity aims to give sufferers and their carers the support they need to improve the quality of life for all people affected. It prides itself on making everyone feel “they are not alone”.