At St Andrew’s Hospice in Airdrie, about eight miles outside Glasgow, Fernando Ricksen is beginning to show the first signs of tiredness after answering questions with his eyes for more than an hour. As an emotional and deeply moving interview draws to a close, Ricksen is asked whether there is anything else he would like to mention in this article. After a short pause while his eyes scroll across the screen to select the words that his voice-computer reads aloud once the sentence is complete, Ricksen adds: “My wife, so that I get some points!”
There is the hint of a smile on Ricksen’s face and a sparkle in his eyes as the room is filled with laughter. The 42-year-old has clearly not lost his sense of humour, which seems remarkable in the circumstances, bearing in mind that he is in the final stages of a cruel, degenerative and terminal illness.
Written by Stuart James
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/mar/01/fernando-ricksen-rangers-netherlands-motor-neurone-disease under the title “Fernando Ricksen: ‘I like living too much, I’m not ready to go’”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
