Dumfries footballer reveals chemotherapy treatment during injury comeback left him with "crumbling bones"

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Dumfries professional footballer Scott Hooper has revealed how he received chemotherapy treatment in his comeback from an injury with “crumbling bones”.

The Annan Athletic player made his return to the first team last weekend exactly a year after his last match for the club.

Scott, 29, came on as a late substitute in the club’s derby day 1-0 home win over Queen of the South, replacing match winner Tam Muir in 82 minutes to a huge ovation from the supporters at Galabank.

He said: “It felt a bit alien coming on.

“It has been a long, dark and sad year but there’s light at the end of the
tunnel.”

Scott told how it was a year since his last match for the Black and Golds adding: “It’s been a year today (last Saturday) in the exact same fixture.

“I’m back in and thankful to be on the pitch. It’s probably the best game to come back because I’ve got more adrenaline than you would have against other teams.

“I was only on for five or 10 minutes but sometimes you need that to kick you on.”

Hooper disclosed the extent of his injury horror and said: “I tore my abductor, my pelvis was crumbling, I ripped the tendons on my hip, snapped ligaments in my groin, had stress fractures in my stomach and groin, strain on my hamstring, osteitis pubis, Gilmore’s Groin.

“I got an injection on my pubic bone and then I got chemotherapy treatment to help my bones because they were breaking.

“I couldn’t walk for three days. I had to get my wife Lisa and her family to help me off the couch. I couldn’t walk up the stairs.

“It was hard but I knew it was going to help me. The chemo was running through my body for six weeks trying to make it better.

“I wasn’t allowed to walk for six months. I wasn’t supposed to work (as a joiner), but I had to and it made it worse.”

The injury flared while Annan were managed by Peter Murphy, now boss at Queens.

And Scott said: “Peter Murphy told me last season I needed to rest up as if I kept doing what I was doing that it was likely I wouldn’t play football again.

“If somebody says you’ll never play football again you have to listen to them. Luckily enough I did.”

During his battle to return the 29-year-old also suffered a broken foot in training in an accidental collision with team mate Jai Quitongo.

He said: “I came back training but in my third session I fractured my ankle. I wasn’t having much luck at all.

“But you’ve got to get up and bounce back. You train every day to get to Saturday and I’ve not had that for a year.

“It was demoralising and it was dark at times but you’ve got to fight through it. I’ve got to keep taking two steps forward rather than two steps back.”

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