Celtic legend Murdo MacLeod has told how he has been to hell and back after nearly dying from complications following heart surgery. The Hoops hero - who spent over three months in hospital, including eight weeks on a ventilator - got home from hospital but has a long road to recovery.
The ex-Scotland internationalist, who retains the fighting spirit he had on the football field, said: “This isn’t a victory for me. This is the start of a fightback.
“It’s not as if I’ve suffered a broken toe. I spent a total of 106 days in hospital and getting back home is special. I’ll know I’ve won when I can get back on the golf course for the first time in months.”
The 64-year-old was admitted to Clydebank’s Golden Jubilee Hospital in September for routine surgery to replace a heart valve that he had fitted in 2010. But things took a turn for the worse when he was struck down by endocarditis, a life-threatening inflammation of the heart’s inner lining, and doctors were forced to put him on a ventilator to save his life.
The dad-of-three and grandfather said he was indebted to his wife of 45 years, Mhairi, close family and a long list of pals from the world of football who willed him to survive. After coming off the breathing machine, Murdo was able to see old team-mates and friends as well as watch his daughter Marina graduate as a quantity surveyor via video link.
But it was an emotional visit from former Celtic team-mate Frank McGarvey, diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and going through chemotherapy, that really got to Murdo.
He said: “I couldn’t believe it when Frank came into my room while I was still in hospital. I knew what was going on with his health because I was discussing Frank with another former team-mate, Danny McGrain, when he came in to see me 24 hours earlier.
“The thought that someone so ill had gone out of his way to see how I was getting on was touching and humbling.”
When Murdo was in hospital, Celtic had invited Frank to address the crowd from the pitch before an Aberdeen match and the spectacle was visibly moving for all those who witnessed the moment.
Murdo said: “Frank never tires of talking about our days at Celtic Park and he was kindness personified when he paid me the ultimate
compliment. He said that, for all the 100 goals he had scored for the club, one of mine in particular had beaten any of them.
“That was the goal that beat Rangers in 1979 and won Celtic the league title on our final day of the season. It was voted by the Celtic supporters as the greatest goal ever scored in an Old Firm derby.
“Frank was a terrific player for us in those days, although I had to tell him he was so successful because no one, including himself, ever had any idea what he was going to do next whenever he got on the ball.”
Murdo is now determined to repay Frank’s kindness. He said: “Once I am strong enough, I am going to visit him and see if I can make him feel as good as he made me feel when he got his son Scott to take him well out of his way to cheer up somebody else.”
The Borussia Dortmund hero said that on the same day he saw his daughter graduate, he also had a visit from TV star Sanjeev Kohli. The Still Game actor, who played shop owner Navid Harrid in the MacLeod family’s favourite comedy, popped in with Tunnock’s Caramel Wafers the day before he was discharged.
They were joined by just-graduated Marina, Mhairi, daughter Gilan and granddaughter Victoria. His other daughter Mhairi jnr joined in the celebrations by phone from her work. In between talk about the World Cup and photos to mark the occasion, Sanjeev joked that Mhairi had renovated the family home in Rhu during Murdo’s absence while also re-enacting classic moments from Still Game.
The football boss, who assisted Wim Jansen at Celtic, knows he has a long way back to good health. But wife Mhairi said the whole family are just overjoyed to get him home.
She added: “Murdo is on the mend but we’re taking baby steps back to where he was before the operation. A friend texted me to say baby steps can still climb mountains and we know how true that is when we see how far Murdo has come from the difficult days in September.”
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