Friday 19 October 2018 22:21, UK
Moses Odubajo believes the memory of his mother's death from Malaria helped spur him to comeback from two years out with serious injury.
The Brentford right-back was set to play in the Premier League for Hull but dislocated his kneecap in the pre-season of 2016, before being released this summer and returning for a second spell at the Bees.
Odubajo lost his mother to Malaria when he was just 12 years old, after she had been working in Ghana as a nurse, and against Bristol City on Saturday the club will be raising money for a charity for which Odubajo is an ambassador.
"It's bad to say but I feel like it's been a blessing in disguise," he said. "When footballers get hit with long-term injuries, it can cause depression. Football becomes your life, so when somebody takes that one thing away from you it's like, 'what do I do now'?
"When I was put in that situation it was a kick in the teeth, but then I thought there were more strings to my bow, and this isn't the end, and there's going to be a big comeback.
"I told my story when I was at Hull and the minute the charity got in touch with me I thought 'if I can do something to help a family not go through what me and brothers went through then I'm all for it.
"As the years have gone on I have built a good relationship with the people at the charity and I ended up becoming a special ambassador. The statistics that I read about this disease are crazy. A kid dies every two minutes in Africa, which is mad when you think about it.
"Just £1 can save someone's life and I think that's the main thing I want to push, and hopefully this weekend everyone comes together and donates."
Odubajo has made three appearances so far this season, making his first league start in 29 months against Leeds last time out, and he believes he is well on the way to recovering his form.
"I'm still not where I want to be physically, but I've just got to be thankful after such a long spell out," he said. "I'm back playing, which is the main thing. It's going to take time but as the days go on and I play more games I'm only going to reach where I left off.
"I was speaking to one of my friends yesterday and he was moaning about things, but then he said 'look at this time last year, look at where you were and look where you are now. You've got a lot of things to be grateful for. Your back playing football, the thing you love'.
"I think this season I just want to play as many games as possible, if that's in a spell or one-in one-out. I want to play as many times as I can to show everyone that I'm fit and I can still do what I did before."
