04/06/2026
When John Hartson was diagnosed with cancer in July 2009, it was not something that had come from nowhere.
For around four years, he had known there were lumps on his testicles.He had kept training, kept working, kept moving clubs, kept getting on with life, and somehow convinced himself it would sort itself out.
No, it was just me being stupid, and boyish, and not mature enough to face it.I hoped it would just disappear. But the lump got larger.
By the time he went to hospital in Swansea, the cancer had spread to his lungs and his brain.He got the diagnosis, went back to his car, and completely broke down.It broke my heart in that hospital car park.
Then within an hour of being told it was stage four cancer, the headaches started.The cancer was already right on top of him.I had a blinding headache.It went on for days and nothing could stop the pain.
From there, everything moved quickly.Hartson was taken to the neurology unit in Swansea, and that alone ended up being vital.He was later told if he had needed to be moved all the way to Cardiff, he might not have survived it.He had two brain operations.He got pneumonia.
He ended up in intensive care, connected to a ventilator, with pipes and tubes coming out of him.At one stage, he stopped breathing. For the first month, the doctors were not really fighting the cancer.
They were just trying to keep him alive.His family were told how serious it was.His dad spoke to the oncologist and was told.We are not concerned about the cancer now, weβre just trying to save Johnβs life.
Hartson was given a 50/50 chance.He had 67 sessions of chemotherapy in three months.He lost five stone.
His wife Sarah was pregnant at the time, and while he was lying there, that became the thing he kept thinking about.My goal then was to live to see the baby come into this world.βThat was what he came through.
And when he did come through it, one thing stayed with him.The support from Celtic.Hartson had always known what Celtic meant to him, but after that it became something different.
So when he came out of hospital, he had the Celtic badge tattooed on his arm.When I came out of hospital, I really wanted to get the Celtic emblem on my arm.Just so I can take it to my grave with me.It gave me an enormous lift.I wanted to wear the badge on my shoulder forever.
Two things here 1 Celtic is more than a club its a family. 2 If your feeling unwell get yourself to a Doctor don't wait better to be safe than sorry π