John Pender on his battle with MND: I cant play with my grandchildren but thats life, I ·

21 May 2024, 00:00

“It is something that you can never get used to.”

John Pender is sitting in his chair in his home in Telford just like he does every day. His view is the same, staring out towards the rest of the house and into the garden. His routine rarely changes.

Besides him is a small table with a remote control which he uses to adjust the seat, making himself more comfortable.

The days of tough tackles for the former Wolverhampton Wanderers, Charlton Athletic, Bristol City, Burnley, Wigan Athletic and Rochdale man are long gone.

Life could not be more different.

The 58-year-old has motor neurone disease (MND). It is a horrible, rare, degenerative condition affecting the brain and nerves. There is no cure.

It has left him unable to walk. He cannot complete the simplest tasks like making toast or answering the front door.

“All I do is sit in this chair,” says John. Emotion fills his voice, which quivers slightly as he speaks.

“It is very challenging when you are an active person. To get up and function every day you have to accept it and make things as good as you can.”

John’s problems began in February 2019 initially through sleep apnea, a disorder in which pauses breathing or periods of shallow breathing during sleep occur more often than normal.

“Then the dizzy spells started,” says John. “I kept losing my balance and falling over. It could be any task and it would come on quickly and I would be on the ground.”

There were heavy falls. He has hit his head multiple times and suffered broken ribs.

John had stopped working as a West Midlands bus driver and doctors continued to monitor him until he was referred to a consultant in May 2019.

The left side of his body began to deteriorate. He knew it was something more. Symptoms suggested it was Parkinson’s but any medication provided had no impact.

It took until May 2020 for the full diagnosis when John was informed he was suffering from a form of MND named corticobasal syndrome.

His life had been turned upside down.

Sat with John is his wife Denise. She has been his rock.

“I rely on Denise to do everything,” says John. “I can’t just get up and do whatever. It is completely different and so frustrating because you can do stuff and then suddenly you can’t.”

COVID-19 added an extra challenge. John was able to walk until last Christmas but restrictions meant they were unable to go out much. Appointments were more spread out than the expected three or four months, with some taking place over the phone.

He has been restricted to a wheelchair for nearly a year. Other symptoms have come on slowly. In the last few months, his speech has become slower and more slurred.

Denise gave up her job to become her husband’s full-time carer in February. They have known each other since they were 15.

“I’ve put up with him and he’s put up with me for all that time,” Denise says.

John laughs and pauses to take a sip of his drink. His right side remains strong but the task is a challenge.

“Even the simplest of jobs you can’t do; you get so annoyed,” John says.

The former centre-back has neurophysiotherapy every week. A range of equipment and machinery allows him to exercise his arms and legs to keep his muscles moving to remove stiffness.

Pender was a towering defender who captained Burnley to promotion twice (Photo: Claire Mackintosh/EMPICS via Getty Images)

“I always feel better after it because I feel looser. It is just simple exercises but it keeps me moving,” says John.

“My left side is non-functional. My brain is trying to tell me to do things. The signals being sent to the muscles get blocked and I can’t move then. If I grip something and I say to let it go it doesn’t listen to me… a bit like you,” John says, nodding in Denise’s direction.

During the conversation, there are many laughs like this. It would be easy to focus on the negatives and there have been tears and difficult moments but the Pender family are determined to put a positive spin on the situation.

“That’s life,” he continues. “You learn to live with it. You have good and bad days but will it ever feel normal? You just have to get on with your life and accept it.”

The Christmas decorations are in boxes ready to be put up that afternoon. John used to enjoy DIY and helping around the house. Those things are no longer possible.

They will be hosting Christmas this year for the family after it was effectively cancelled last year when they both tested positive for COVID-19. “John never touched his Christmas dinner so you could tell he was ill,” says Denise.

They have four grandchildren aged between nine months and 13. It is the time of year where they will show off their new toys.

“But I can’t play with them…” says John before pausing. “It is quite a lot for them to understand but they know I need help and they just get on with it. If we go anywhere they are rushing to hold the doors open.”

Denise adds: “Connor is 13 and he’ll sit with John on his PlayStation. Ava is eight, she fusses round bringing you biscuits so John’s made up when she is around. Jacob is four and starting to understand and Harry not one yet.”

The Pender family are close-knit and John and Denise are extremely grateful for the support provided by their four children, Jade (36), Nikki (34), Lauren (30), Danny (28).

They have helped with hospital appointments and taking care of endless financial forms. Danny works for the NHS and has done a lot of research on the condition.

John had kept his illness private but it became clear additional help and support was required. In November his children launched the fundraising campaign asking for donations to help improve their father’s quality of life and raise more awareness of MND.

It has passed the £15,000 mark, which has blown the family away and they cannot overstate their thanks.

“We were expecting around £2,000 or £3,000 max and that would have been amazing but wow, absolutely phenomenal,” says Denise.

A walk up Pendle Hill to raise more funds is planned for January 15, although it may be rearranged as it clashes with a Burnley match.

The majority of the funds will be used to purchase a new powerchair, which will cost around £8,000, to replace his wheelchair.

“I am quite big and this one is not built for me, it is too small,” says John. “It is not comfortable being in it for a long period of time. Going out for an hour or so is about it.”

As well as comfort, it will offer John more independence to move around the house and garden.

“That’s if he can control it,” says Denise. “The one you have at the moment is quite tricky isn’t it?”

“It’s got a mind of its own!” John says with a chuckle.

Adjustments to their house are nearly complete. The couple moved in May, downsizing to help raise funds for adaptations and with Denise no longer earning. It was also due to location. They are now nearer to family and friends and their former home in a small village called Moreton meant they could not get out much because of the lack of pavement. “The cars used to fly along the roads so it was dangerous,” says John.

Funds will also go towards installing ramps at the front and back door. For now they are having to make do with portable ones. They plan to flatten the garden too so John can safely manoeuvre around.

After getting the keys, the next few weeks were spent converting the five-bedroom house into three bedrooms with a wetroom. Walls were knocked through to widen passages and the back room was opened up. Two of John’s shirts, a Wolves and Burnley one which he wore in the 1993-94 play-off final victory over Stockport County, lie on the floor, framed and ready to be put on the wall.

“It is starting to feel like home,” says Denise.

They are grateful to the Professional Footballers Association who stepped in a year ago to provide funding for the £25,000 lift which transports John into one of the bedrooms upstairs.

“You have to think about so much. It is a never-ending adjustment,” says Denise. “All of these little things have had and will have a huge positive impact for the future making it that bit easier.”

Costs to maintain a good quality of life are extensive. Pender is from the generation of footballers who did not “earn the big bucks”. A horrific injury forced him into retirement and he went into work in management for an insulation company and then an ASDA delivery driver.

With the support they have received, they consider themselves lucky.

“There should be more financial support provided by the government for these types of illnesses,” says Denise. “What about people, non-footballers, who cannot afford or get additional support to install the necessary adaptations?”

The car parked in the front drive was acquired in June through the mobility scheme. It has been a “godsend”, designed to allow John to be wheeled into the car via a ramp; a much safer method than before.

The family travelled up to Scotland earlier this year and recently spent the day in Blackpool. A holiday is booked in Wales next summer. Planning and organising trips is very different, even visiting friends and family requires extra planning.

“Until you are in this situation you don’t realise how hard it is for people,” says Denise. “Ramps, access. If you stay overnight you need a flat bedroom, a wetroom, and an electrical reclining bed. There are not many places with everything.

“I know they can’t get everything suitable for disabled people but they need to look at making more things accessible. It would make such a difference, even getting from the wheelchair into a chair. It sounds insignificant but it isn’t.“

John continues: “There are many types of disability. I can’t use my left side but in a disabled toilet everything was on the left of me.”

With a new wheelchair, the hope is the family can try and live their lives as normally as possible in the new year.

“Not knowing what is coming next is difficult,” says Denise. “It is one of those illnesses where you just don’t know how it is going to progress. You just live day by day.

“We want to enjoy the time we have as much as possible.”

Despite his physical limitations, John’s memory remains strong.

That is no more obvious than when talking about his career. He casts his mind back to captaining the Republic of Ireland Under-21s. “You can’t have a bigger honour than captaining your country,” John says.

23 January 1993 – John Pender v Mansfield Town #OnThisDay #burnleyfc #UTC pic.twitter.com/U3VczWVoyg

— Burnley Goals (@burnleygoals) January 23, 2017

Since the family went public, they have been overwhelmed by messages of support from John’s former team-mates and others including Lenny Johnrose, another Burnley player suffering with MND.

“You could see it gave John a lift,” says Denise. “Sometimes it was hard to read but with the ex-players and the football banter it gave him a bit of a laugh.”

The Wolves Former Players Association chairman John Richards will occasionally phone and they made a £1,000 donation to the fundraising efforts. Wolves invited him to watch their recent game against Burnley in an executive box.

“Wolves should have won,” says John, who splits his allegiances between his two former clubs. ”I want Wolves to beat everybody except Burnley so 0-0 was a good result.”

From left: Danny, Nikki, Denise, Jade and Lauren with John at Molineux for the recent Burnley game

Burnley’s Former Players Association have been in contact too. John and Denise are hopeful they will be able to attend a meal in April to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the club’s Fourth Division title success.

He lights up when talk turns to his career, particularly his time at Burnley where he made 171 appearances and was labelled “Captain Fantastic” during his five-year spell at the club.

When the nickname is brought up, John rolls his eyes and Denise laughs. “I just don’t like talking about myself,” he says.

Pender is one of only two Burnley players to captain the side to two “special” promotions; the Fourth Division title in 1991-92 and the play-off final victory at Wembley in 1994.

“That day was one of the best days of my life,” says John. “I still remember climbing the steps. I was in the zone and I walked straight past my dad. He was in a wheelchair right at the front and I missed him.”

He loved his time at the club. He was closest to Ian Measham, Andy Farrell and centre-back partner Steve Davis but the names are flowing.

“Adrian Heath, John Deary, Ted McMinn, Roger (Eli), John (Francis) and Winston (White),” says John. “We had a good side, good players, far better than me, but nobody was bigger than anybody else so we gelled.

“My strengths were stopping people from playing, not playing myself. I would have been sent off every week nowadays.”

Promotions followed John throughout his career which began blossoming in Wolves’ academy. After breaking through to the first team at 18, he was part of the side which won promotion to the First Division in 1982-83. He was a lucky charm for Charlton (1985-86) and Bristol City (1989-90) before his move to Burnley and there was a final promotion as champions of the Third Division with Wigan in 1996-97.

They are cherished memories from a career that spanned nearly 20 years and over 600 appearances, but it has come with a cost. The family believes football has contributed to John’s condition. Nothing came back from genetic tests conducted so they think it has been caused by something physical.

“It is heading the ball,” says John. “It was my strength but I have probably got about 100 stitches in my head from different clashes. If I went totally bald you would just see a load of criss-crosses.

“I played for Burnley against Bournemouth and I went up for a header and got knocked out. The doctor checked me out and I went back on. There is no chance that would happen today.”

Yet John would do it all over again.

Pender gets to grips with Nottingham Forest in his Bristol City days (Photo: Ross Kinnaird – PA Images via Getty Images)

“Yes, I would. I love football and you never lose that,” he says.

John and Denise believe more needs to be done in football to explore if there is a link between the game and conditions such as MND, Parkinsons and dementia.

We speak on the same day the sad news of Burnley legend Jimmy Robson passing away is announced. He was one of seven players from the Burnley title-winning team of 1960 who developed dementia. Former teammate Gary Parkinson, who suffers from locked-in syndrome, is another example brought up.

Raising awareness is crucial. News of the government investing £50 million into MND research, following campaigning led by ex-Bradford defender Stephen Darby and former rugby league player Rob Burrows, is a huge step forward.

“MND for a lot of people is very unknown,” says Denise. “They need to get a proper diagnosis. With cancer you can spot the problem, with this they still don’t really know.

“That’s why research is needed. There is no cure but there isn’t even any medication to try and help alleviate the problems and help symptoms to make you more comfortable or slow the progress.”

Studies are ongoing and the fight continues.

“I would never want anybody else to go through what I am,” says John.

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John Pender on his battle with MND: I cant play with my grandchildren but thats life, I

It is something that you can never get used to. John Pender is sitting in his chair in his home in Telford just like he does every day. His view is the same, staring out towards the rest of the house and into the garden. His routine rarely changes.

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