Nick Anderton is motivated by his young family as former Preston North End and Blackpool defender opens up on cancer diagnosis

Anderton was told he had cancer in July 2022 and was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. He had a successful operation on his knee in October. He is currently on cycle two of six of his chemotherapy in The Christie.

The 26-year-old started his career at North End before moving on to play for Barrow, Blackpool, Accrington Stanley and Carlisle United before joining Bristol Rovers in 2021.

The left back helped the Gas gain promotion last season and following his celebrations it was pre-season that brought his life-changing diagnosis.

On January 16, the players and staff at Rovers, including manager Joey Barton, all shaved their heads in support for Anderton, who wears the no.16.

The club have set up a GoFundMe page to provide financial support for Anderton and his young family.

Speaking to his former club Accy, he said: "I had been having a bit of trouble with my knee. I remember New Year's Day last year and it was really sore.

"I carried on playing and it flared up again and I thought it was just a niggle, you never think it's cancer. There is no history of cancer in my family and this one is so rare.

"I came back in pre-season and I did all the running, the bleep test, the weights and, around four days after coming back, I could barely walk up the stairs.

"It was absolutely killing me so the club sent me for a scan, the doctors found a tumour and they thought I would need an operation and hopefully that would be it.

"However, they sent the tumour off for a biopsy and it was found there were some aggressive cancer cells so I am having six rounds of chemotherapy to 'mop it out.'"

Anderton is keeping a focused mind when it comes to his treatment and has been through plenty of hardship already.

He recently welcomed his second child into the world but was quickly back receiving chemotherapy.

He said: "One thing I haven't done is google it or anything. If I get information booklets, I give them to my mum or my girlfriend Isabel. I have tunnel vision; I will just deal with it as it comes as I don't want to know about side effects etc. as then you will automatically think it will happen.

"I know they can be intense and there are peaks and troughs with chemo. You do feel sick but then you quickly feel ok for a few days.

"When you are in a room with a doctor and they are telling you news you don't want to hear - in six months I have learnt what real life is."

The latest round of chemotherapy is particularly hard for Nick as Isabel gave birth to their second child George on Tuesday. The pair already have Grace.

"I saw George born on Tuesday and then it was chemo Wednesday and I was in for two days. That's hard.

"When I was diagnosed, Grace was just two and Isabel was in the early stages of her pregnancy with George. My thoughts went straight to them and I think, if I didn't have them, I would have struggled a lot more with the diagnosis.

"It's weird as when you get told you have cancer, you don't know how to react. You just have to tackle it and keep positive, especially because I have such a young family."