Ricksen: I’ll have a dram with new tube

BATTLING former Rangers star Fernando Ricksen is so thrilled with his new feeding tube he’s joked about filling it with whisky.

The 40-year-old suffers from an aggressive form of motor neurone disease but has defied doctors who gave him two years to live in 2013.

Medics at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow recently carried out an operation that will allow him to continue to be fed if his condition deteriorates and he is unable to eat by mouth.

Speaking for the first time since the procedure Fernando, who spent six years at Ibrox, said: “I had a peg put in my stomach that will help in the future.

“It would normally be a year down the line but it was best to have it done now while I have the strength to recover.

“For two weeks after the operation I felt weak, but I feel better now.”

He quipped: “I can’t feel it there but I would like to try putting one of the best whisky bottles I have through it.”

Last year a heartbreaking documentary showed the devastating toll the muscle-wasting illness had taken on Fernando.

In touching footage the dying Rangers hero’s wife Veronika, 29, was seen holding his hands as she guides him out of their home.

The shock footage from Dutch TV documentary, Fernando Ricksen: the Final Battle, told how the former midfielder had deteriorated since his diagnosis three years ago.

Fernando’s friend and biographer Victor de Vries explained about the latest procedure.

He said: “Eventually he will not be able to eat food but by that time he’ll be too weak to have the operation so while he has the strength, it was the right time to do it.

“One of the things we’ll use it for just now is flying.

“It’s very hard to fly with Fernando and for him to eat and drink due to the motion.

“There’s always risk. It was something he was determined to get on with and in the future it will make everything easier.

“My job is to make sure he is comfortable and is as normal as he can be.”

Victor said the hospital thanked Fernando for the work he’d done to raise awareness of the condition across the world.

He explained: “The operation was carried out at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow and when we were in there they spoke about the heightened awareness of MND.

“The surgeon, Scott Henderson, said because of the awareness Fernando has created NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board gave him a job as well as six nurses to deal with any MND patient. “Fernando has driven forward the demand to create MND treatments, and that was something we always wanted to achieve.”

Fernando and his friends are hosting a Rangers Legends versus England Select match in Fleetwood stadium next Sunday.

Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes, as well as Ibrox legends Jorg Albertz and Michael Mols, have signed up to play.