WATCH: After Recovering From Heart Transplant, Nigel Returns To His Passion On The Football Field
After a year of travelling abroad for surgery, waiting ten months for the surgery, looking for accommodation in London and recovering, Nigel finally did what he’s been waiting to do for nearly a year now: play a game of football with his friends.
“I can’t feel any better than this,” Nigel said in comments to TVM. “I was scared my heart would get tired and something would happen to me but now that they’ve changed it I’m taking all the medicine so I’ll be able to heal and now I’m OK and my heart isn’t supposed to get tired anymore”
In a video by TVM, Nigel is shown returning to his favourite football club, the Naxxar Lions Nursery, where his friends and colleagues were waiting for him with a cake to celebrate his return.
Clearly excited to be there, Nigel is seen running around the pitch, dribbling the ball between players, shooting, and even landing a clean header.
Even though he is so young, Nigel has a noticeable knack for football, as can be seen from the way he expertly juggles the ball as he practices.
His friends were overjoyed to see him, saying they had missed him greatly, that he is a really good football player, and one boy even saying he would have been very sad if Nigel had passed away.
The adult Naxxar Lions players themselves signed a football as a small personal gift to Nigel to welcome him back.
He was accompanied by his grandfather Joe Spiteri, who told TVM that Nigel lives for football, and that he personally feels overjoyed when he sees Nigel smiling.
“It’s a big deal for Nigel to be playing football again. His dream was always to become a football player for Naxxar or Valletta,” he said.