Axminster Walking Footballers Support Player With Aphasia

Jonathan Hirons was a founder member of Axminster Walking Footballers in 2015, after suffering a bleed on the brain that left him with Aphasia.

Aphasia is a lasting impairment that leaves sufferers with serious speech impairments and can affect their ability to read and write.

Now his team has donated to Jonathan’s campaign to raise awareness about Aphasia. ‘Most people have not heard of Aphasia but in fact there are 350,000 sufferers in the UK alone – that’s more than the number of people suffering with Parkinson’s,’ says Jonathan.

The donation will be used by Say Aphasia to buy an iPad. They have built a registration system for people coming to their groups that is Aphasia friendly. Rather than filling in forms, the people with Aphasia use pictures and click buttons.

He has worked tirelessly to inform people about the condition, with help from organisations including The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia, the British Aphasiology Society and Say Aphasia. He has also made a documentary about his own experience that can be found online: https://tipofmytonguefilm.com/