In what one of his rugby league press box colleagues has described as “one of the best stories of the year”, The Sun sports writer Gary Carter has written about his recovery over the past 12 months after a vicious attack when he was on his way home after covering a match nearly killed him.
“One year ago, I was attacked and suffered a brain injury, also I was fighting for my life,” Carter wrote in a Sun column yesterday.
It was more than three months later before Carter was eventually discharged from hospital, his injuries sustained in the attack, including a fractured skull after hitting his head on a kerbstone as he fell following a punch, having left him in a coma for four weeks.
After being transferred closer to his own home, to the Salford Royal Hospital and its brain trauma rehab ward, Carter wrote: “It was there that the warmth of my wife, Gemma, family, friends and colleagues really started to hit home… The steady stream of cards and visitors was a constant support for me as I learned how to walk again.
“People from rugby league – Garreth Carvell, Shaun Wane, Kris Radlinski, Adrian Morley and Kevin Sinfield – took time out of their schedules to visit me.
“Burnley manager Sean Dyche also called my wife to offer his support – I just thought I was another face in the media crowd!”
Carter’s assailant, Jamie Flanagan, was convicted and given a two-year jail sentence, but he is already out on licence.
Carter says he is now working on getting back to a normal life, “There is still a lot of work to do in terms of muscles and walking, though… Am I mad? No. Am I disappointed? No. Am I determined to fully get over what happened? Yes.”
Read all of Gary Carter’s Sun column by clicking here.