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Darron Gibson, a former Manchester United prospect, was unable to wash or use the restroom following his catastrophic injury.
Gibson, who was once projected to follow in the footsteps of Old Trafford star Paul Scholes, had his first big setback in his career in October 2013 while on international duty with the Republic of Ireland. After an uncomfortable fall, the midfielder suffered cruciate ligament damage and was carried off during the World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan.
Gibson, 34, was playing for Everton at the time, and the significant knee injury forced him to miss the rest of the 2013/14 season. Danielle, his wife, witnessed the awful tragedy live on television and recalls the agonizing process of nursing her husband back to fitness from one of the worst injuries a player can get.
She recalls watching Gibson’s “leg fall in half on the pitch,” forcing medics to “shave his thigh muscle and make two new ligaments.” Danielle complimented Everton for the care they provided her husband but admits it was the “start of a very bad slope” for his professional aspirations, according to the Manchester Evening News. “We had to create him a bed downstairs, he had to sleep in a metal cast, I had to take him to the toilet, bathe him, and this was for 12 months,” she explained.
Gibson, who has 27 caps for his country, returned to fitness only to discover that David Moyes, the man who recruited him for the Toffees in January 2012, had departed for United, with Roberto Martinez replacing him. His dreams of living up to the lofty billing he had garnered upon graduating from the Red Devils system vanished swiftly, and he was finally relegated to playing for Everton’s Under-23s before leaving Goodison Park in 2016.
“They’d signed other midfielders, there was no place in the team for him anymore, he’d get the few minutes here and there but that’s not what he wanted,” Danielle said of Everton and her husband.
Gibson’s injuries continued to plague him in the latter years of his career, taking a toll on his wife, who “felt helpless in a very chaotic world.” He played for Sunderland, Wigan Athletic, and Salford City before retiring at the end of the 2020/21 season, which Danielle describes as a “huge relief.” She claims, though, that she is a “very proud wife for everything that husband has done in his work.”
