Liverpool academy graduate and under-18's coach Jay Spearing has been diagnosed with Addison's disease after being hospitalised in a Christmas health scare.
Spearing made his debut for the Reds in a 2008 UEFA Champions League match against PSV and went on to make 55 appearances for the first team, including a start in the 2012 FA Cup final under legendary boss Sir Kenny Dalglish.
After departing Merseyside in 2013, Spearing has since gone on to represent Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool and Tranmere Rovers prior to completing an emotional Anfield return in June.
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His current role enables the boyhood Red to combine full-time coaching duties with appearing for Liverpool's under-21 side as an officially-registered over-aged player.
However, the 34-year-old's attention was dramatically turned away from football over the festive period after he underwent blood tests on Christmas Eve. Spearing wrote on Instagram: “My first Christmas off in 17 years was a little different than I expected.
“After blood tests with the club on Christmas Eve I was told I needed to attend hospital urgently before my body started shutting down. I was potentially hours/days away from going into something called adrenal crisis.
“After more observations and tests were carried out, they diagnosed me with Addison’s disease.
“It’s taken me a minute to get my head around it but I am thankful that now it’s been diagnosed it can be controlled and managed through hormone replacement treatment and it’s not something that I will allow to affect or dictate my life.
“Thinking back, I have been ignoring symptoms and changes in my body for over a year without it being checked. If I didn’t get this checked when I did things could have turned out very differently."
The disease is an uncommon illness that occurs when the adrenal glands fail to make enough of certain hormones.
It thankfully appears that Spearing is on the mend in a fight to recover as 2023 dawns, though he urges anyone to seek a check-up if they ever notice any differences in their body.
“Moral of the story, don’t ignore changes in your body, no matter how small," he added. "Get them checked out!”
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