The moment it stops feeling temporary

When I was diagnosed, part of me assumed it was something to get through — a phase before things went back to normal. It took time to understand that this was the new normal, and that acceptance, not waiting it out, was what would actually let me move forward.

That was harder mentally than anything physical about the condition itself. I was 19, already fighting for a first-team place, and now managing something that felt completely outside my control.

Rebuilding confidence, on my own terms

What helped wasn't pretending nothing had changed. It was proving to myself, in small steps, that I could still do the things that mattered to me — get through a full session, get through a match, get through a setback without it derailing everything. Each one of those built the evidence I needed that I hadn't lost anything.

Signing my first professional contract less than a year after diagnosis mattered to me for exactly that reason — not as proof to anyone else, but as proof to myself.

You're not defined by the diagnosis

If you're a young athlete who's just been diagnosed, or a parent watching your child go through it: the diagnosis is real, and it does require real adjustment. But it isn't the whole story, and it doesn't have to be the headline. It's one part of what you manage — not what you are.