John Hartson: Learn from my mistakes

Former Wales and Celtic striker John Hartson today launched his latest book, “Please Don’t Go – Big John’s Journey Back to Life.”, in Glasgow today and hopes to use his story as an inspiration to men all over the country. He was diagnosed with cancer in July 2009 after ignoring a lump in his testciles for four years and the book details his journey back to good health, which saw him undergo numerous brain and lung operations as well as over 60 chemo therapy sessions. In January of this year it was revealed the cancer had virtually been eradicated, and he said today, “This was something I wanted to put on paper as it was a worthwhile story and a very touching one. I got a phone call from my cousin this morning, he started the book at 7pm last night and couldn’t put it down. He had also forgotten how hard I had to fight, it is only 18 months since I left hospital and it has been easy to forget what position I was in."

The main reason for writing the book was to get his message across to as many people as possible. He said “I want to sell as many books as I can as I think this is a book that will save lives. I had a lump on my testicles and ignored it as I didn’t know what they were. If I had gone to the doctor when I discovered it the treatment would have been a lot easier. There is not enough done for this form of cancer, apart from the work of Lance Armstrong who was an inspiration to me."

John believes it did help that he had been a professional sportsman but that this was not the be all and end all for his recovery, “I think so having trained everyday of my life for 18 years but I don’t think it is the be all and end all. The oncologists did say my lungs and heart were strong and all the tests I was getting top marks. Having trained every day certainly helped as did being a non smoker."

The message is more important to John as he stressed, “I am not getting paid too much for this book, I got paid more for my autobiography a few years ago. I want to achieve a record sales of the book as it is an awareness campaign, six or seven years ago I didn’t know the tell tale signs and knowing what I know now I would have gone to the doctor much earlier. Every I went though could have been avoided if I had gone earlier to the doctor. I am travelling the country to get the message across and get people to buy the book and it’s about a sports start who has come back. It is a similar story to Lance Armstrong and if I can sell 10% of the amount of books he did I will be delighted."

John’s book is now available in the shops, and is published by Mainstream and is priced at £17.99