From cancer to Anoeta, the 521 days that altered David Brooks’s life | OneFootball

David Brooks heads to Anoeta for a Europa League debut in Bournemouth’s first European match, five years after a Hodgkin lymphoma halted his career.

In October 2021, he asked Wales’s team doctor for paracetamol after weeks of fatigue, seven kilos lost and sleepless nights. “For 23 years my life revolved around football, then everything collapsed. I just wanted to stay alive,” he told the BBC.

Team medic Jonathan Houghton spotted symptoms consistent with cancer, within 24 hours a biopsy confirmed stage two of the disease. Aged 24, Brooks paused his career to face the fight.

Treatment lasted six months, he could not leave home and his partner, Flora, became a round-the-clock carer. Bournemouth arranged accommodation beside his house for his parents, who travelled from Warrington, 300 kilometres away, to bring food.

When chemotherapy ended, his first dog walk forced a stop after 100 metres. With no cardio work behind him, he trained again in May 2022 having put on 20 kilos, then needed another year to be ready for the Premier League.

It was 521 days from his announcement to his 18 March 2023 comeback at Aston Villa, greeted by a thunderous ovation. That summer Andoni Iraola arrived, minutes were scarce, a goal came in August, then a loan to Southampton where he was vital in promotion.

On Thursday night he could feature from the bench at Anoeta, and simply playing again at the highest level already feels like a victory he hopes can help others.

Source: Diario Vasco

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