WITH two appearances and two goals behind him having completed his recovery after surgery, Graeme Armstrong is now ready to start the season – right?

Wrong. The Darlington striker may have his shooting boots back on, but having not long ago spent a month “wasting away” in hospital, he knows that playing a full part in competitive football is beyond him just now.

The memory of looking into a mirror at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle and seeing a shockingly gaunt version of himself remains fresh for the 32-year-old, who suffered a severe abdominal damage in the final game of last season, resulting in having half of his pancreas removed and he is still healing.

He hopes to play for half of tomorrow evening’s friendly at Spennymoor Town, Quakers’ last pre-season fixture before the season kicks off at Buxton a week on Saturday.

“I’ll not be fully fit for the start of the season,” admitted Armstrong, having added the final two goals in Tuesday’s 8-0 trouncing of Bishop Auckland. “I should’ve had four or five matches leading up to the start of the season, but I’ve got to get my fitness somehow and playing games is the only way to do it.

“I still haven’t had a knock on it. It’s a mental battle for me at the moment. Physically I’m fine, but mentally it’s an issue. Once I get a whack on it I should be fine.

“The scar tissue is a small lump where I got hit. There’s still some swelling there and I put ice on it after every game, but there is discomfort there, that’s all, and you don’t notice it when you’re playing.”

Armstrong was hit by Bamber Bridge goalkeeper Lee Dovey in the dying seconds of the play-off final. The surgery lasted eight hours.

He added: “I lost two stone – a lot of that was body fat – and I was a shell of the man I used to be. I was wasting away. It was quite scary looking in the mirror. I was gaunt, I had nothing in my face, my eyes were drawn in. It was muscle wastage.

“And when I came out of hospital I really struggled. I couldn’t walk 50 yards without having to sit down. I really struggled.

“After the operation I lost ten kilos in five days. When you’re on medication you don’t feel like eating at all. It sounds daft, but you don’t even have the strength to eat.

“It got to point in hospital where I was having a really difficult time. Even though I’d had the operation and it had gone well, it became a mental battle. But fans, team-mates and management at the club were fantastic for me. That support got me through it and helps you get back playing as soon as you can.”

He received a warm reception when making his return last Saturday against one of his former clubs, Whitby Town, playing the final 20 minutes, followed by Tuesday’s run-out against a Bishop side already battered by the time Armstrong entered the fray.

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“The surgeon said all along that August 1st was the comeback date,” he added. “The difficulty was that these injuries don’t occur very often so it was tough putting a timescale on it. It was always up to me when I felt right to play, and it just so happened that I felt right around August 1st.

“The ovation I got on Saturday from Whitby and Darlington fans was the reason you spend that much time in the gym, doing two or three sessions a day.

“I’ve never worked as hard to get myself back fit. It’s for football mainly, but it’s for my lifestyle as well, being able to be a PE teacher and not be tired at the end of the day. It’s a big part of my life, being fit.

“It was ideal to come on in a game like that against Bishop. It gave me the opportunity to get a couple of goals and to get on the ball a bit.

“I’m building up. I got 30 minutes against Bishop, 20 minutes last Saturday against Whitby, hopefully I’ll get 45 against Spennymoor. Then we’ve got two training sessions next week before the season starts.

“I’m in contention to play the first game, but I know that I’m not fully fit.”

*Graeme Armstrong this evening appears at a talk-in to which all supporters are invited at the Railway Tavern, North Road, Darlington.

The event has been arranged by Quakers fans Paul Hodgson and Ian Carter and takes place at the Railway Tavern, North Road, starting at 8pm.

Entry is £3 with funds raised shared between PIMM Productions and the Back To Darlo Fund.

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