The human spirit sees Chris win
DEFIANT TEENAGER REFUSES TO BE HELD BACK BY AMPUTATION
ed break.
It was the start of a series of 200 operations, months of chemo- therapy and extensive surgery.
Then, when he was nine, withh his parents Sean and Wendy byy his side, he learned how to copee after his right leg had to be ampuutated from the thigh in a six-hourur operation.
Specialists at Newcastle’s Freeeman hospital did all they could to try and save the limb but an infecction meant there was no optionon but to amputate.
But Chris was determined thathat his disability should not stop himim from playing the game he loved.
And two years later, his parentsnts found an advert for a disabilityity football session run by the Newcasastle United Foundation.
“We took a chance and we went ent along,” Chris said. “I was anxious to see what type of ability levels thereere were but when I turned up I was overwhelmed. I didn’t expect there to be so much support.
“At first I wasn’t sure about what I was capable of but the coaches encouraged me and soon I was feeling really confident playing. It was amazing to be back out there.
“I kept going to sessions and kept improving.”
Chris, of Pelaw, has made rapid progress over the last seven years and was invited to join the Foundation’s FA Player Development Centre as well as the English Amputee Football Association’s Centre of Excellence in Manchester.
And he has now been selected by Great Britain in their provisional squad for this year’s European AmputeeA t F Footballtb ll Ch Championi ships and the Polska Amp Futbol Cup in Warsaw. He is also in thee provisional squad for wthe World Championships in 2018.
The teenager, who wants to become a disability football coach, said: “The Foundation has helped me grow in confidence and everything about my football ability I thank them for.
“I’ve worked hard and it was amazing to get the call to say I’m in the provisional GB squad for the World Championships in 2018.
“I’m buzzing - I never thought that I would come so far, so quickly.”
Chris is just one of many foot- ballers being helped by the Premier League/BT Disability Fund, run by 22 Premier League and Football League clubs across the country.
“The PL/BT funding is vital,” Chris says. “It’s a big message that gets spread about disability football. Just because you have a disability, you are not ruled out of playing the sport. It’s a game for everyone.”
He is now a part of the newlyformed Newcastle Foundation amputee team.