Gary Lineker has opened up on his son George's battle with leukaemia - with the former England star revealing that he was haunted by a horrible recurring dream of him "carrying a tiny little white coffin" during his son's ordeal.
George, now 30, had a course of chemotherapy during a seven-month stay in hospital after he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia at just eight-weeks old.
And Lineker has opened up on how the harrowing ordeal affected him as both a father and a footballer. Lineker - who starred for the likes of Barcelona, Tottenham and Everton during his storied career - was still playing professionally when he first took George to hospital.
Speaking to The Athletic’s ‘The Moment’ podcast, Lineker recalled: “It was the middle of November ‘91 when we first noticed that he had some kind of issue. It was like a little spot or bump on his forehead.
“So we thought we'd take him to get checked and the doctors thought it was a skin condition. I can't remember what they said it was, but they thought they would take a little biopsy just in case. So they did that and then they said, we'll have another check in just under two weeks time.
“And in the interim period, he had more of these spots appear all over his head so he looked like a golf ball. We went back for the check and they said it was this skin condition.
"But in the days before that he started to get very unwell. He was groaning and had these little swellings over his body. They took a look and I'll never, ever forget it. They took his nappy off, and they just looked at each other and went, 'Oh,I'm really sorry to tell you, this is something far more serious'. They said they needed to do more tests but that it looked like leukaemia."
After George was diagnosed, Lineker revealed that he was given a slim chance of survival, with children his age only given a 10-20% survival rate. And Lineker has opened up on how he wanted to battle the disease himself rather than watching his son go through the ordeal.
He added: "I wanted it to [be] me that had it [Leukaemia]. I didn't want it to be my little kid. But whilst there was hope that he’d get better, I was alright. I used to have this recurring dream, and I'd had it for quite some time even after he finished treatment, of carrying a tiny little white coffin. It's horrible. It woke me up so many times, but actually living through it even when you're in hospital, there were good moments as well and bad moments. There were ups and downs."
Lineker has revealed that football acted as a release for him during George's battle against the disease. He added: "Football was the only time I could almost get it out of my mind. I had three weeks without training and then I said ‘’Right, Terry [Venables, then-Tottenham manager], can I come in’’ because I needed it for me, in a way. There's a little bit of an escape from a whole day in the hospital ward looking for the worst signs or sometimes looking for good signs or whatever it was."
After turning 30 earlier this year, George is now thriving as a successful entrepreneur. And almost three decades on, Lineker has opened up on how his son's battle changed him as a person. Lineker concluded: "It definitely did change me as a person. I was so driven in what I did, as you have to be in football, and I was almost a bit cold in many ways. I was always really like that.
"I think it gave me more empathy than I probably had before. It gave me appreciation and perspective of people who don't get things as I've had in my life. I think in that sense it did change me no question about that, which I think is probably a good thing."
Gary Lineker was speaking exclusively to The Athletic’s ‘The Moment’ podcast.
