Former Celt starts chemo

Former Celtic footballer Frank McGarvey will begin chemotherapy this week in an attempt to beat the pancreatic cancer he was diagnosed with last month.

The ex-Scotland striker, 66, said: “They haven’t offered it to many people with my condition. It was a Celtic-supporting nurse who told me the news.

“It turns out the doctors are prepared to give me this opportunity as they say I’m very strong physically and mentally. I’d lost a lot of weight but the medicine they’ve given me has helped put a few pounds back on.

“My lungs are in great shape and my heart is working perfectly, although I’m in pain when I walk around. They think I have a chance. They think they can fix me and it would be a miracle if they did.

“The only way for me to beat this is to fight it and I’m going to try and live as long as I possibly can but if this treatment doesn’t work then there’s nothing else anyone can do for me. I know I might die soon.”

Manager Billy McNeill smashed the

Scottish transfer record when he paid Liverpool £250,000 for McGarvey, who scored 113 goals in 245 games for his boyhood heroes between 1980-85, his last goal being the winner in the Scottish Cup final against Dundee United.

McGarvey won five major honours with Celtic and the Scottish Cup with St Mirren in 1987 but he now wants to make people aware of the dangers of pancreatic cancer.

“I want to publicise it because people don’t know about the dangers – I certainly didn’t,” McGarvey said.

“I get emotional about it every now and then and wonder why this is happening to me. But then I turn on the news and see people in Ukraine being bombed. People are dying every day and many of them are a lot worse off than me.” McGarvey took the time last week to visit his former Celtic team-mate, Murdo MacLeod, who is in hospital waiting for an operation to

replace a heart valve.

“I went into his room and gave him a cuddle. There were tears in his eyes and mine but I’m glad I went.

“There have been many messages of support, including ones from Rangers fans, plus I receive about 25 phone calls every morning. I have a great team behind me and that’s why I won’t give in.”