After being stretchered off during Mayo’s defeat to Galway a couple of weeks ago, Tom Parsons spoke to Joe Molloy to give an insight into how he is recovering from the horrific injury sustained and his memory of the incident.
"I’m good at the moment but it’s been a tough two weeks. I’ve ruptured three of the four ligaments and I’ve torn the fourth. There’s tears to the calf and hamstring as well and knee is fully dislocated. You never think it’ll be you," he said, before touching on the way team-mate Aidan O'Shea rushed to his aid and attempted to distract from the extent of what he had just suffered.
"It was just another tackle. I just remember my leg being in trouble and trying to get that leg out. I looked down and within seconds Aidan O’Shea had his paw on my forehead and pushed my head back and said, 'Tom don’t look at it'. Then I saw him waving in the medical team. I have such a good medical team around me. If you see panic in people’s eyes that will just make things a whole lot worse.
"The pain was something that I just can’t get my head around. Now I understand what 10 is, this was just excruciating. The pain was short term, it was temporary. I’ve looked at the pictures, I haven’t looked at the video and I’m not going to. I just need to get my head around what happened and understand it and that’s why I looked at the picture."
After giving his view on the incident, he then went on to discuss his hope for the future and how the support he has received from fans on social media has been very significant.
"The support I received was magical and I really am thankful to everyone. When I am low and I need some inspiration I know I’m going to go back to these messages," he said.
"It has been overwhelming and I will hold it close to my heart and it’s given me great encouragement. It is an opportunity to spend more time with family. I’ll give it everything in my power to come back and play football with my club and Mayo. That goal to just walk, that goal to just jog, once I can walk, I’ll jog, once I can jog I’ll run."
Stephen Kierans
