One-cap England international Jay Bothroyd revealed he played his entire career while fighting a secret and debilitating health battle.
, Bothroyd revealed an incident in which he blacked out while driving and crashed his car. On another occasion, he was put in a prison cell “covered in his own blood” after an episode where he banged his head against a wall.while living with epilepsy, said: “I wish I'd have spoken about epilepsy earlier but I didn't because I felt that they might give me a short-term contract or pay-as-you-play.
“Epilepsy affected my performance,” Bothroyd admitted. “There were loads of times I had bad games because of it when I wasn't fully focused or I had in the back of my mind a worry like, 's***, I haven't taken my tablets. “Right, fine. I put it to the back of my mind and did some silly things. I didn't take medication - not like missing a day's tablets, I'm talking weeks.”However, the 41-year-old recalled several incidents where the condition caused serious damage to his body, including one moment as a Cardiff player while on holiday in Portugal.
“It was f***ing s*** for months, healing - deep, layers of skin, third-degree burns. It was bad, especially when you're changing your dressing - you can see the wound is red-raw, but you're peeling it back. I should have had a skin graft. It was so, so painful - and I continued playing! I had bandages all over my arm and leg. It's painful when you're barging someone with no skin.”On his career, he said: “It shows you can achieve anything even if you have epilepsy.
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