Former Huddersfield Town star Anthony Lloyd will swap football boots for running shoes.
He is raising cash for charity after being inspired by his daughter Isabella, three, who has the lung disease cystic fibrosis.
The 29-year-old, who now plays for Farsley Celtic in the Evo-Stik League Northern Premier League, will aim to raise more than £1,000 in sponsorship for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust by completing the Great North Run half-marathon on Tyneside on Sunday, September 15.
And it will be a personal double triumph for the player, who starred in Town’s play-off winning side at Cardiff in 2004.
Not only is he raising money to help children like his daughter, he is celebrating a comeback from an horrific injury, which almost cost him a leg.
“I broke my leg really badly and the doctors said I’d never play again or jog around with my daughter,” said Anthony.
“It was car-crash material. I was playing for Guiseley at Kendal in the FA Cup. I’d just gone to pass the ball back to the keeper and someone went in knee-high and did a lot of damage.
“There were seven things I did in total and the Bingley-based surgeon, Steve Bollen who saved the careers of Paul Gascoigne and Michael Owen, did the operation.
“He said I’d be extremely lucky to get back to it. He said it was one of the worst sporting injuries he had seen. If I hadn’t been for Steve I doubt I would be playing still or even running round the park with my daughter. I was close to losing my leg from my knee down.”
Anthony, who lives in Pontefract with wife Rachael and three-year-old Isabella, today spoke of how despair has given way to pride since she was diagnosed as having cystic fibrosis as a baby.
“Above all, I am inspired by my daughter and hopefully she can be inspired my me,” Anthony said.
“I want Isabella to see me doing things like the Great North Run for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and then she can stay as fit and healthy for as long as she can. I want her to be as proud of me as I am of her and the progress she is making despite having the disease.
“She’s doing really well. I’m doing the Great North Run to raise much-needed cash for the charity but also to raise awareness of the disease. Things are getting better and better and cystic fibrosis seems to getting a higher profile even since Bella was born.”
To sponsor Anthony online go to: http://www.justgiving.com/Anthony-Lloyd
