Liverpool players past and present have rushed to send messages of support to Liverpool U18s coach Jay Spearing after he was diagnosed with Addison's disease.
The former Tranmere midfielder returned to the Reds academy in the summer, joining Marc Bridge-Wilkinson's coaching staff at the U18s with the 33-year-old also featuring for Barry Lewtas' U21s.
However, during the Christmas period, Spearing was hospitalised after a health scare.
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On Tuesday (December 27), the footballer took to Instagram to announce his diagnosis but, thankfully, revealed that it will not dictate his life. He wrote: "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."
Spearing added: "Moral of the story, don’t ignore changes in your body, no matter how small. Get them checked out!”
Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson was among the current players to send their best wishes as he replied to Spearing's message with a heart emoji. Stefan Bajcetic, who scored his first Premier League goal in the Boxing Day win over Aston Villa, was also among those wishing the Liverpudlian well saying: "Get well soon Jay".
Goalkeeper coach John Achterberg replied "Hope all is ok", while Tyler Morton, currently on loan at Blackburn Rovers, wrote "Get well soon mate".
Paul Glatzel, Layton Stewart and Liverpool Women's star Missy Bo Kearns were also among those offering support, while former Liverpool defender Jose Enrique added: "Glad you are ok amigo. Much love."
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