A Dundee footballer has revealed his emotional turmoil after he was diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Lee Bertie, 37, was forced to give up playing for Broughty Athletic after contracting motor neurone disease for which there is no cure.
Amazingly, he still works in IT despite steadily losing his mobility and he is determined to stay positive.
Lee, who has played for a number of other clubs, including Lochee United, said: “I first started noticing subtle symptoms in December 2013.
“My right hand and arm felt weak and I had trouble writing and typing. I thought it was a trapped nerve or something else.
“Then, slowly but surely, it spread to my left hand and the rest of my body, until I couldn’t pick up a pen to write my name.
“I had eight or nine months of various tests, including an MRI scan, and had to give up football in May.
“Finally I was diagnosed in October it takes a while because there’s no definitive test.”
Lee, from Kirriemuir, said one of the hardest things he had to do was tell his family about his illness.
He has the support of wife Claire, nine-year-old son Cole, daughter Lois-Lily, aged six, and 10-month-old Murran.
Lee said: “My first response when I was diagnosed was to say there must be a mistake.
“I was overwhelmed and I thought it couldn’t be true this lasted for four to six weeks.
“Then I thought, ‘Why me, what have I done?’
“Naturally I wanted to know how long I had left, and the answer was that everybody is different.
“It could be a few months or it could be years.”