Jamaica and West Ham United forward Michail Antonio is confident he will be able to play again after suffering a serious leg injury in a road accident in December.
Antonio’s car hit a tree on his way home from training, shattering his femur in four places.
West Ham’s record Premier League goal-scorer subsequently spent more than three weeks in hospital after undergoing surgery.
“The most difficult part is that I almost wasn’t there for my children,” Antonio said in an interview with the BBC’s “Morning Live” published on Monday.
“It’s just made me happy, positive about life, because I’ve got another chance at life.”
The 34-year-old Antonio, who has been at West Ham since 2015, is now able to walk again but still faces a long road to recovery before he can return to playing the game he loves.
“Overall, they say it will be between six (and) 12 months before my leg starts healing properly,” he said.
“It’s the biggest injury I’ve ever had in my career. But the fact that I’m already two to three months ahead of where I should be, I know that I’ll play again, and I know that once I’m playing the game I’ll get the sharpness back,” Antonio added.
The former Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest man also then went into detail on how he was found after the crash and what, if anything, he remembers from when it happened.
“The police came and when they found me I was in between the two seats. I wasn’t actually in the driver’s seat. They said it looked like I was trying to climb out of the window, but because my leg was so badly broken the pain probably stopped me from being able to get out,” he said.
When asked what he remembers from the accident, “nothing,” was Antonio’s reply.
“It’s weird because the whole way through this, I have been told that I was awake and was speaking to everybody – the police, the people, and the person who found me. My leg was completely shattered and they got me out and put a splint on it by the side of the car. Everyone believed I got an air ambulance out, but the helicopter couldn’t get off the ground because of the storm, so I was driven to the hospital,” Antonio recounted.
“It gave me a weird feeling in my stomach. It just made me realize how close I was to dying. I had seen the pictures but it was 10 times worse in person. The car was an absolute mess. It was difficult for me,” he added.
