Iain Rooney

“A lot of people think I am the epitome of the “American Dream". Big fancy house, married a model, retired in my 40’s…”

Meet Iain Rooney. As a North West export, Iain was born and raised in Ellesmere Port. Now an ex-professional basketball player, retired business man, loving husband and father to Max who has ‘diffuse idiopathic encephalopathy’, or in layman’s terms, unknown brain disease.

As a kid, Iain was obsessed with sports and had an active social life – euphemism for chasing girls and going to the pub. It was during this time he found he possessed a talent for basketball. He commented on why his love for the game developed in such a way: “I think I ultimately focused on basketball to escape from the shadow of my older brother, who was much better than me at both cricket and football.”

Iain travelled to the US where he played college basketball for a year, and met his future wife, Michele. Iain reflects on his time in America with an amused smile: “One of my closest friends on the team was an American named Craig Robinson. His sister, Michelle, used to come and visit all the time and I got to know her. These days she is better known as Michelle Obama!”

On returning to the UK, Iain played professional basketball for the Manchester Giants for two years. However, in 1987, Iain moved to the US to marry Michele: “My phone bill was ridiculous. There was no email or Skype back then.”

It was then that Iain went to work for Michele’s dad, as he owned a manufacturing company that produced concrete blocks. When he retired, Michele’s dad sold the company to Iain and Michele’s brother, Garth, who played professional American football for the Dallas Cowboys.

In 2011, Iain and Garth sold the company to a private equity company after having spent the years expanding the business. As part of the deal, Iain had to work for an extra year during the transition to new ownership. He then officially retired in June 2012, at the age of 47.

For 10 years, Iain was a volunteer governor for Kindering Center, which is a non-profit neuro-development centre for infants and children with special needs, and during his time there raised $5.5million to expand its facilities: “A lot of people think I am the epitome of the “American Dream”. Big fancy house, married a model, retired in my 40’s. It might look like that on the surface, but they have absolutely no idea how hard it is raising a kid like Max.

"Michele and I would give up absolutely everything if it meant he could just have one day to be a typical kid who was able to walk, stand up, talk, feed himself.”

Iain and Michele’s lives literally revolve around their 19-year-old son. From a specially built house with an indoor pool for Max’s therapy, to both living healthy lifestyles to extend their lives as much as possible to look after him.

Speaking about his family, Iain ended our meeting with: “I wouldn’t change my life for anything – my son is an inspiration to me and I married the greatest person I ever met. They are my heroes!”