Joe Wilson: Football, Cancer and Me – Sky Sports News presenter reflects on his cancer journey with David Brooks, Tony Mowbray, Henry Lansbury and Emma Saunders | Soccer News

In a new Sky Sports News documentary, Joe Wilson talks about his cancer journey in ‘Football, Cancer and Me’.

The presenter was diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer in 2022, shortly after the birth of her daughter Mabel. She has now been cancer free for the past two and a half years.

Joe will be joined by four other soccer players who also contracted the disease. They will talk about their cancer experiences in a documentary that will be broadcast on Sky Sports News from 4pm on Wednesday.

She chats to David Brooks and Henri Lansbury, who were both diagnosed while playing, Tony Mowbray, then Birmingham manager, and Sky Sports reporter Emma Saunders. Joe also met Adam Webb, the owner of St Johnstone.

In her own words, Jo tells us about her battle with cancer, how it affected her life and family, and why there is hope for those going through the same experience.

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It was July 31, 2022 that I was diagnosed with cancer.

It hit me like a truck. I wondered if I was going to die. I was preparing for the worst, but I guess I have to.

Actually, I didn’t tell anyone. It was difficult because I didn’t want anyone to wear it. I think it would have been better if I could have done it without telling anyone. I didn’t want to worry anyone.

If someone sees this and calls their doctor because they think something is wrong, it’s worth having a conversation.

So many people are affected by cancer, directly or indirectly, and conversations like this can help people feel less alone and let the world know that there is life after cancer.

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I thought something was wrong so I went to get tested. I was sure she would say, “You’re suffering from a postpartum hangover,” but that day, she said, “It looks like you might have cancer.”

It’s something you never expected to hear and your life changes in an instant.

But the strangest thing is that nothing changes for several weeks as there is a period of further tests and scans. They need to know the type of cancer and develop a treatment plan.

There were a few weeks where life went on as usual. That weekend I went to the Cheltenham Wine Festival and saw everyone having fun and thought, “I’ve got cancer.”

It’s strange how life just goes on, but at the same time I know that my whole life has changed and is about to change.

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My treatment plan was to undergo 5 weeks of radiation therapy every day, Monday through Friday. Five weeks of chemotherapy once a week, every Wednesday, followed by three days of brachytherapy. This is a fairly invasive form of internal radiation therapy.

I didn’t tell anyone about my diagnosis until I had a treatment plan in place because I wanted to call my mom and tell her, “This is what’s happening, but this is the plan, and this is how we’re going to get through this.”

That was tough because I didn’t want to impose that on anyone. I almost felt like “I can handle this,” but I didn’t want anyone else to worry or stress about me.

I knew my mom and dad would be really upset and they would feel very helpless because they literally couldn’t do anything to help me in that moment.

As a mother myself, I would do anything for my children and I know I don’t want them to suffer. I knew how difficult it would be for them to find it.

The days of chemotherapy were the hardest. I remember the nurse telling me about it and I said, “How does this make me feel?” And she said, “There’s no way to know because everyone reacts differently.”

I found it pretty hard to deal with because you’re looking at it like, “Okay, this liquid is going to get inside me, I don’t know how it’s going to make me feel, I don’t know how my body is going to react,” but at the same time, it’s also something that will hopefully make me better.

There was a moment when I sat on the floor crying and said, “I can’t do it anymore, I can’t go to treatment.”

The last part of my treatment was brutal. He was hospitalized for three days, was put to sleep, had 14 metal rods inserted into his body, and had to lie in a hospital bed for three days. I couldn’t eat or move.

I wasn’t even allowed to see Mabel. Mabel would probably want to hug me or climb on top of me, and I just didn’t want her to see me like that.

But it was the first time I was away from her after giving birth. That moment, lying in the hospital bed, was probably my darkest moment.

She said it only took her 3 days to get me through my treatment, but that was the first 3 days I spent away from her.

Mabel was 18 months old when I was first diagnosed. She became my focus and the reason I got up every day despite my illness and fatigue.

Being able to get back into mother mode pushed me to persevere. Because no matter how dark my days were, she was my reason for everything. Without realizing it, Mabel became my spiritual home.

My first question was, “Am I going to die?” and I said it wasn’t about me. I accepted death and that it might be a reality for me, but what I couldn’t accept was the prospect of leaving her without a mother.

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It’s hard when treatment is stopped and you’re suddenly left alone to deal with what happened.

I feel like I’m being taken away from support a bit because I haven’t had any treatment and I’m still feeling unwell and it’s going to be hard to recover. I was still very tired and trying to deal with the psychological effects as well.

Things like scans quickly become a big part of your life, as does the fear that the disease might come back.

I think some people think, “You had cancer, you received treatment, and now you’re better,” but that’s not the case. You probably think about it in some way every day.

I woke up a while ago with really bad back pain, and with the type of cancer I had, one of the biggest symptoms of recurrence is back pain, so I thought, “It’s come back.”

It’s very difficult to understand that you have to wait and hope things work out.

I still didn’t want to meet people because I had lost a lot of weight and didn’t feel healthy. I also didn’t know if it would work or not, and I wasn’t ready to have those conversations with people.

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It was an incredible feeling to be told I was cancer-free. Words cannot describe the feeling I had when I heard these words that the treatment had been successful. Because it’s everything you ever wanted.

It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with, but I got through it and I’m cancer free and I’m alive and life is good.

It’s so bad that you might think you should celebrate the all-clear, but it’s probably not because you’ve been through something terrible.

I’ve been battling cancer for two and a half years now, and I still think about it every day, so I don’t know if you really have cancer or not. As the days go by, I think about it less and less, but I still think about it.

I am also living with side effects. I’m 40 years old and it made me feel old. I went into early menopause and was infertile, so I was told that if I received treatment I wouldn’t be able to have any more children.

It’s mentally tough too. I don’t think it’s something that ever leaves you.

I felt so happy for Mabel. You start imagining your little girl’s life, and I remember thinking about not being able to see her start school.

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I’ve always loved sports, so my competitive spirit shows up in everything I do. That was really helpful in terms of being able to deal with it when I was going through treatment. That resilience also plays a role in lifelong sports.

And being able to get involved with the wider football family, sports media and the support I got from that really meant everything to me.

The world of football and sports, the outpouring of support I received from people I’ve never met or spoken to… When I posted on social media after I returned to work, I got so many messages from people who were genuinely happy to see me coming through the other side.

Life is good and life is happy. Life is about enjoying the little moments, spending time with the people you love, and doing the things that make you happy.

It completely changes you. You can’t go through something like this and not change. It puts everything into perspective. No one knows how long you will live on this earth, so it’s important to enjoy every day.

you can get over it. People will help you get through it, and there is also life after cancer.

If you or someone you know has cancer, you are not alone. For support and information please visit cancerresearchuk.org or macmillan.org.uk. You can also talk to your GP or call the Macmillan Support Line on 0808 808 00 00.

Watch ‘Football, Guns and Me’ with Joe Wilson on Sky Sports News on Wednesdays at 4pm. This documentary is also available on demand.