Torquay United defender Chris Todd has announced that he has been diagnosed with Leukaemia. Chris, 27, has been struggling to recover from an operation after picking up a stomach injury in the match against Forest Green Rovers back in September, and after a blood test earlier this week the diagnosis was confirmed.
The first thing to state is that Chris is in a very positive and determined mood; his parents Steve and Julie along with his fiancée Gemma and his young daughter Amelia, were with him during the press conference along with Alex Rowe, Colin Lee, Paul Buckle and Chris Hargreaves.
Chris has been diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML) which develops relatively slowly. You may have chronic leukaemia for many months or years without having many symptoms. Chris has a high count of abnormal white blood cells (150 compared with a normal reading of 5) which can affect the recovery from infection; this is what the medical staff picked up on with Chris and his struggle to recover from his operation. For more information please visit: www.cancerresearchuk.org/
After an introduction from Colin Lee, Chris spoke about his condition and opened up with a bit of good humour- 'Obviously it's a bit of bad news for me!
'I'm very pleased to be at a club where they are giving me 100% support and I've got my family behind me, who are amazing. It's hard to accept but I'm a fighter, as anybody who knows me will tell you. I have had upsets in my career and this is just another step. I will deal with it and I will be back.'
Chris was asked what the next step is in his treatment- 'I had tests yesterday and they will come back to me on Monday to tell me the extent of the leukaemia and what stage it is at. I will then know what treatment I will need; hopefully it will be an early stage treatment which will probably be tablets. I might have to take a tablet a day for the rest of my life and I could be able to lead a normal life and carry on playing football within the next three months, who knows.
'The reason I had the blood test was because of the operation; I was in the hospital and a nurse advised me to go and have a blood test because after the operation I was bleeding quite a lot more than I should have been. I decided on Monday to go and have a standard blood test and Monday evening I received a call from the doctor with the news which, as you can imagine, changed everything.
'Looking back, it is like a jigsaw puzzle, you remember things that you couldn't understand at the time. Pre-season I was struggling to keep up with the lads, I am a pretty good athlete and I'm usually at the front but I couldn't understand why I was behind all the time; maybe I had had to good a summer!
'It was a touching moment last night when the players held my number up. We are very close, I know people will say that they have heard that a million times from footballers but the team spirit at this club is amazing. We are a family and that includes the management, the staff and the players, it is special. I want them to support me and be positive which I'm sure they will.
'I will continue to come as normal and train. It will be mainly light jogging to keep myself fit and I must keep away from all contact. My spleen is bigger than normal due to the leukaemia and if I ruptured it I could become critical. Not knowing this, I did play my first 5-a-side on Monday and went about clattering people thinking I was nearly fit so I can consider myself lucky.'
United boss Paul Buckle spoke about Chris's situation- 'It has been very difficult. I think now that Chris has had the news and spoken to the players, he briefed the players before the game last night, it shows you the man that he is. I said to the players that Chris is being strong; he has come here to watch us perform so we need to go out and do just that for him. We are right behind him; there was a lot of emotion last night.'
Torquay Chief Executive Colin Lee also gave his thoughts on Chris's announcement- 'We have known about the situation for the last forty-eight hours, it has obviously been a very difficult period for Chris and his family but also for everyone connected with Torquay United. We are going to give our full support to Chris, who is a tremendous lad and a great ambassador for this football club. It has been a big wrench for everyone concerned but as a club we are fully behind him and we will support him through his fight with leukaemia. We will do everything we can for Chris and his family during this difficult period of their lives.'
We talked to Chris after the press conference and he spoke of his appreciation of the Torquay United supporters- 'The support I have had and will receive is really my flame now; I need everyone's support to keep me going. I'm sure I'm going to get that from the Torquay fans, they have been brilliant to me since I have been at the club and I'm sure they will continue to be brilliant. I am being positive and I am looking at the best possible scenario because I believe I am strong enough. I have played football for the last six months with leukaemia so it isn't going to stop me when I get fit.
'I love this club; since I have been here I have loved every minute of it. I just want everyone to stay positive for me because I want to be back playing football within months.'
