SHAMROCK ROVERS boss Stephen Bradley has bravely detailed how he found out about his son Josh’s leukemia diagnosis.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s “Sunday with Miriam” he recounted the distressing experience that began with his then-eight-year-old son Josh complaints of back and knee pain during a football training session.
Initially, medical professionals suspected a muscle spasm.
However, as symptoms persisted, concerns grew. Bradley recalled a pivotal moment when a doctor mentioned leukemia, a word that struck fear due to his mother’s previous battle with cancer.
During a family holiday, Josh’s condition worsened, leading to an urgent hospital visit.
Bradley described the heart-wrenching moment when, after initial tests, doctors delivered the devastating news of Josh’s leukemia diagnosis.
He said: “Maybe six weeks before we went on holiday, he was training with the local team, and he came off with a sore back and knee.
“I brought him to see the doctor and the physio in the club, and they said look, ‘he might have a muscle spasm – let’s keep an eye on it.’
“The next time I brought him, they said it could be afew different things but at the end of the sentence the doctor mentioned the word, Leukemia… cancer.
“He’d never said it but he mentioned it, and it was in the back of my mind because I scared of that word because of my mum.
“And the next time we went on holiday, he couldn’t move so we brought him to see the doctor. rushed him straight to the hospital.
“And he said that we needed to rush him to Crumlin to get his bloods done, and within the hour we had the phone call to get him to hospital.
“The doctor came in, he [Josh] was jumping around the room, it was like he was making a liar of us. He was laughing and joking.
“My wife went home to get some rest because we were up all night, and the doctor came in a said we need to speak to the two of you – and at that moment I knew it was really serious.
“So my wife came down the hospital, and we sat down with the doctor and she told us the dreaded news. Right at that moment, your world stops, it changes you.”
His eleven-year-old son Josh continues treatment for Leukemia after having been diagnosed in 2022.
He also detailed how he struggled with his mother passing from cancer, Bradley explained that he was about 31-years-old when his mother passed away.
