Jack Evans hopes for Wales chance after cancer battle

6 June 2019

It was a bout of sickness after a Swansea City development fixture which led to the crushing news that Jack Evans had cancer.

Some 14 months after his last game of football, the Wales Under-21 midfielder is preparing to play again.

The prospect of a return to the pitch was what drove Evans on as he lay in a hospital bed and endured chemotherapy.

Now the 21-year-old could feature in either of Wales Under-21s' upcoming friendlies in Albania.

The shock of cancer

Once he was told the cancer was curable, Evans' focus was on getting back into his football boots.

"Because we didn't know what it was at the start, the first two weeks was the scariest part for me," Evans says.

"I was still playing at the time. I had a bad stomach and told the staff that I'd been sick after the game.

"I went to hospital a week later. My parents were on holiday at the time so my dad had to come back. My mother couldn't get flights, but when they came back they told us all what it was.

"I just wanted to know what the treatment was and if I could get back playing."

Evans was treated initially in Swansea's Morriston Hospital before being transferred to the Teenage Cancer Trust unit at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

"My stomach was swollen and I had quite a lot of pain in my stomach, it just wouldn't go away," Evans adds.

"Whenever I ate my stomach felt really bloated and I couldn't move.

"After a couple of weeks it just got worse and I started being sick all the time.

"They didn't really know what it was at the start. When they eventually knew, I was sent to Cardiff and they were brilliant there.

"I think I was there for the first two weeks to start the chemotherapy and the steroids. Everyone looked after me."

The road to recovery

Swansea announced in February 2019 that Evans, a local lad who joined the club when aged just eight, was in remission.

His contract at the Liberty Stadium was due to expire this summer, but he was handed a new one-year deal in the spring and took his first steps back on to the training field at the back-end of 2018-19.

"My family and friends were amazing, as were all of the hospital staff," Evans adds.

"The only thing on my mind was how I was going to get back fit and how long it would take and how long I could get back into training. That's what got me through it mainly.

"The club were also brilliant with me. I can't thank them enough."

Evans had been due to captain Swansea's under-23s last season.

Inspiring his teammates

In his absence, Evans' shirt was hung up in the dressing room every time the team played thanks to the kitman, Shaun Baggridge.

"Shaun always sent me photos," Evans says.

The welcome return to training came too late for Evans to play for Swansea in the final stages of the season.

In his attempt to build fitness, he recently spent four weeks with the Trinidad and Tobago national team thanks to a connection with Sam Huggins, the Soca Warriors' conditioning coach who previously worked for Swansea.

"Dennis Lawrence, their manager, was more than happy for me to be there - he was brilliant," Evans adds.

The stint in the Caribbean means Evans is in decent shape heading into the Albania trip, with the games to be played on Sunday and next Tuesday.

"There's always that pride playing for your country," Evans says.

After everything he has been through, the next appearance is likely to mean that little bit more.