West Ham defender Calum Davenport has revealed the full extent of the injury nightmare he suffered last season.
The centre-back sustained a broken neck while on loan at Watford in January and has now explained that doctors told him he was close to being left in a wheelchair.
Davenport was in hospital for a week after team-mate Darius Henderson landed on him in his first game with the Hornets.
And now Davenport, who scored in West Ham's victory over Blackburn on Saturday, is back to full fitness he has described how his career almost came to an end.
"The specialist told me that if the player who landed on my neck had been 5lb heavier I would be in a wheelchair," he told The Sun.
"I have seen people that has happened to. It was touch and go, really quite serious. I fractured vertebrae in my neck.
"But the swelling around the nerve endings, which reach down to your arms and legs was really quite bad.
"I lost feeling in my right hand and leg for a while where my spinal cord had taken the impact.
"I could have easily thrown in the towel but I worked my way back. I am fitter than ever and everyone at the club (West Ham) has been brilliant to me.
"Those dark times make you really appreciate whatever you get from then on. I am loving life at the moment and really enjoying my football."
whew, i thought something happened to him. Just got him for my fantasy football league and he is a good acquisition.