Essendon great Geoff Burdett’s wife Mary-Anne has detailed the shocking extent of his dementia fight, revealing he is no longer able to speak and ‘his brain is just frizzled’.
Burdett, 70, played 37 matches for Essendon in the late 1970s and early ’80s before captain-coaching three country footy clubs.
He is now in the full-time care of Mary-Anne, who is now worried about how she will keep up with the expenses of looking after him.
Burdett suffers from progressive primary aphasia, a type of dementia that can rob sufferers of the ability to speak, write, express their thoughts and understand words.
‘He is just such a typical younger onset [dementia sufferer] because he is so able-bodied but his brain is just frizzled,’ Mary-Anne told News Corp.
‘From the minute he wakes up in the morning he is trying to tell me things but he just can’t.
Essendon great Geoff Burdett is pictured with his wife Mary-Anne, who has laid bare the horrible toll of his dementia battle
Burdett (pictured) was knocked back when Mary-Anne applied for a payout through the AFL Players’ Association’s benefit scheme
At a time when she should be enjoying retirement, Mrs Burdett (pictured with Geoff) is worried about how she’ll pay for putting him into care
‘I pull out of a lot of things. I have to think twice about what we are doing and where we are going.’
Geoff also cannot understand when his wife tries to explain things to him.
Mrs Burdett recalled Geoff becoming lost at the Westfield shopping centre in the Melbourne suburb of Doncaster on Mother’s Day weekend.
She and the daughter she shares with the former Bombers star couldn’t find him waiting for them and when she called, Geoff was unable to tell them his location.
Mary-Anne had to try to convince him to pass his phone over to someone who could communicate with her, but he refused.
She also said she felt compelled to make a speech on his behalf at a reunion held by the Southern Mallee Giants club, which he coached to a premiership, because he was unable to do so.
Geoff suffered head knocks when he played and Mary-Anne assembled medical records from neurologists and speech pathologists who have treated her husband in an effort to get him a payout through the AFL Players’ Association’s benefit scheme.
However, the application was knocked back.
‘You know what I worry about in the future? These homes cost so much money, to put him in care,’ Mrs Burdett said.
‘But when it comes to that stage I won’t want to do it, but I have to do it.’
