Stoke City have agreed to pay for a player in their women’s team to undergo surgery on an anterior cruciate ligament injury after she started a GoFundMe page in order to cover the necessary costs.
Kayleigh McDonald sustained the injury during Stoke’s 2-1 defeat to Burnley in the Women’s National League North last month and, having undergone a scan, claims she was told by the club that she would have to join an NHS waiting list in order to receive treatment. Desperate to be operated on “in a more timely manner”, McDonald, a defender who joined Stoke from Blackburn last summer, decided to go down the private healthcare route, costing £20,000 – hence the setting up of the fundraiser.
