A WEST FIFE football coach who has twice battled cancer is aiming to give back to his young football team who he says helped him without even knowing it.

John Tod, 41, was forced to spend three months without his three sons in 2020 – at the height of the pandemic – after undergoing a stem cell transplant as part of his treatment for acute myeloid leukaemia.

He had received the devastating cancer diagnosis initially in 2018 and, after 60 gruelling rounds of chemotherapy within six months – which included two bouts of life-threatening sepsis – was told he was in remission.

However, in October 2019, the leukaemia returned and John was told he would need a stem cell transplant but had to be in remission for this.

"I found the second diagnosis much more difficult to deal with on a psychological level," he said.

"I did, however, have great support from my friends and family, but none more so than from my wife, Kim, and I can honestly say that if it wasn't for her, the fight would've left me.

"Following more intense chemotherapy, I was fortunate enough to have the leukaemia back in remission.

"After some complications finding a stem cell donor, a young man from Germany signed up to the Anthony Nolan bone marrow/stem cell donor register. He was a 10/10 match. My stem cell transplant went ahead in April 2020 – just as the world locked down."

Because John had no immune system and his treatment was taking place when coronavirus was at a peak, he was not allowed any visitors into hospital and was unable to see his three boys, Lachlan, Reilly and Stewart, when he returned home.

"I had to be isolated from the boys for three months. This was due to the fact that I effectively had no immune system and COVID was rife," he explained. "All the treatments and procedures paled into insignificance when compared to not being able to see my boys.

"Thankfully, the transplant was successful, and despite all the medication I still have to take, the immune suppression and low red blood cell count, life is once again beginning to have an air of normality to it."

When re-adjusting to life after his transplant, John started helping with the Bayside Hawks 2008s where two of his sons, Lachlan and Reilly, play.

"Once I started recovering from the stem cell transplant, I was lost in myself. I wasn't well enough to work. Anything indoors where viruses could circulate, I couldn't be in that type of situation," John said.

"The football team is outside. When I first got involved, it gave me that bit of focus and made me part of something normal in the aftermath of the transplant, especially with the pandemic. Life had changed for everyone but particularly for myself – I almost had to become a hermit because of the risks. If I was to pick up COVID, the chances of survival for me were very low. I was floating about like an empty shadow.

"I would still go along to watch the bairns' football but when I started getting involved, that is when it set off. Working with the boys at Bayside gave me purpose again. It gave me the focus I had been lacking but it also gave me the feeling of being part of something that was important.

"I get such a sense of achievement from working with them and there's no better feeling than the one I get when I watch the boys bouncing away on a Sunday morning after a win."

John is now planning to run the Strathearn marathon in June to help fund a pre-season trip in the summer.

"I'm doing a fundraiser to subsidise a trip to Blackpool for Bayside 08s to give something back to the boys for all they've done for me – probably mostly unknowingly!" he added. "We are going for two days and one night to keep the cost down, especially with the cost of living and everything as parents are struggling.

"I thought we would start to do fundraising. All the boys got the football scratch cards and I am doing the marathon. Originally, I thought if I can pay for the coach, then that is about £1,000 but donations started to come in quickly and I wondered if I could raise enough for the hotel for the boys.

"The consultant had told me to forget half marathons so by running the full marathon, I'm still strictly following doctor's orders!"

Anyone wanting to help with John's fundraising can do so by visiting https://gofund.me/feb235f8.