The family of Dundee United legend Frank Kopel have launched a campaign for better care for dementia sufferers.
The 64-year-old former footballer was diagnosed with the debilitating disease in 2009 and his wife Amanda says the system is failing sufferers like Frank.
As he is not yet 65, Frank is not offered free personal care, so his family are forced to pay the council more than £300 a month for a carer who helps wash and dress him.
They also fought for several years to get the higher rate of Disability Living Allowance for Frank, who is now blind in one eye and struggles to walk.
The Department for Work and Pensions only agreed to increase the weekly payment this week, after Amanda threatened to take it to a tribunal. Frank was summoned for a work capability assessment before the Government’s sub-contractor backtracked when his wife made a desperate phone call to explain his condition.
“This country is facing a crisis with younger people being diagnosed with dementia and they have to be properly looked after,” Amanda said.Photo gallery: Frank Kopel’s Dundee United days“At the moment some people are being discriminated against because of their age. What does it matter what the number is on the birth certificate? No matter the age, it’s the same illness.”
Frank is still cared for at home in Kirriemuir and his condition can be an enormous strain on Amanda.
She explained: “In the last six months he has gone downhill very fast. He doesn’t really know who the family are now.
“He has hallucinations, tremors. He’s not at peace. He’s very troubled by it. As long as in a routine, he’s OK, but knock him out of the routine and there are consequences. He can turn quite violent. It’s really quite horrific.
“These things are going to happen but they’re frightening at the time. I have watched what this has done to our family and it’s very, very sad.”
Amanda sent a letter to the First Minister at the beginning of the year and a middle manager wrote back to say the Scottish Government “cannot comment or intervene in individual cases”.
Now she has petitioned the Scottish Parliament for an audience with MSPs so that she can tell them of her daily struggle.
Amanda said: “I just feel so, so strongly about this. God’s given me a voice and I’m going to use it for Frankie and for all the younger people.
“If it helps half a dozen of these poor sufferers and their families, it’s worth it.