Bebo

The big match was upon me and my heart was pounding. I could feel it. But I felt unstoppable. It was kind of like in my dream when I had the surgery, but loads better. This time it was for real. My dad came out for the match. I could feel him watching me. This was no time for mistakes. Everyone was depending on me. Rob was out with a sprained ankle after someone slide-tackled him. He already scored two goals that day. It was 2 all. I wasn't going to let it be a draw. We needed this if we were going to win. There wasn't much time left. Seconds. I kicked the ball down the field, passed it to the right to one of my mates. I then ran like lightening towards the goal. My heart was pounding again. He passed me the ball back. I kicked to the right of the keeper. It was in the net before he even saw it coming. I felt great! It was over. I couldn't believe it.

Not long ago I was sitting in hospital scared that I'd never be able to play football again. But now I had won the match. I could see my dad jumping up and down, laughing. He ran up and hugged me. I could feel his heart pounding too! That was one of the best times of my life. Thank you to everyone who made it possible. I couldn't have done it without you. I'm stronger because of it.

After the summer I’m going on to study for A’ levels. Before my trips to hospital, I’d never have thought it. But now I want to do A’ levels in science subjects. I want to know more about how my body works. And how those machines in the hospital work that took those wicked pics. I'm not so sure if I'll make it, but I want to go to university. If I don't play football professionally, I'd like to be a sports doctor – maybe for football players or something like that. I used to think science was just in books, but now I know different. There must be so many stories to learn. Peace!

I don't remember much of the surgery cause I was asleep. I had this awesome dream. I was at the pitch, it was near the end of the big match. I saw myself as one big heart pumping blood to my body. I kicked the ball down the field right over the heads of the defense. The faster I moved, the more blood pumped to my body. No more headaches or blurred vision. Blood was pouring through it. I felt fantastic. I was right at the edge of the goal and kicked straight on. The ball went right through the goal keeper's legs and into the net. My team was all around me. Lots of hugs. I had won the game for them. It felt good 

The anesthetic didn't wear off until an hour or so after surgery. I woke up to see my Mum and Dad next to me. It was the first time I saw them together in ages. Rob and some girls from school were there too. I couldn't believe it. I felt soooooo scared and alone at hospital but everybody I loved was there with me. I knew things were going to be alright.

I was scared. I didn't know what the scanner was going to show inside of me. I lay on a narrow bed, and then they put a weird contraption on my chest. They said it was a coil, but it didn’t look like any coil I’d ever seen. Then I put headphones on, the machine whirred and I slid into this long tube. There were lights inside or it would have been really creepy. I stopped moving. All I could hear was some squeaking. Then suddenly it started making a lot of noise. It sounded like someone was banging the outside of the tube with a hammer. They said the noise was the magnetic field being changed around me to take the pictures. But they played some wicked R&B and that made me feel better I was out of there before I knew it. But I still felt funny inside. Was that the magnet or just my nerves? Wasn't sure what was comin next. Before I left they showed me some of the images. It was cool to see the 3-D pictures of my heart on a computer screen. But also weird. It was MY heart – the main thing that kept me alive. The thing that helped me on the football pitch. There it was – on a screen in front of me.

I worried about whether they would be able to fix me or not. Looking at those pictures kind of made me think of myself like a machine. Like one of my robots. Would they be able to fix me? The pictures stayed in my head.