Celebrating Callum’s Football Journey

Callum Wooldridge, who was due to attend the fixture against Leyton Orient on Saturday with his Okehampton Under 10 team mates, has unfortunately not been able to play football or any sport since before Christmas.

During training sessions, the coaching team noticed that his lips kept turning blue and at first thought it might be the cold. Callum then suffered some chest pains and his parents took him to the hospital. It was diagnosed that he had a rare heart condition and had to stop playing, which has been extremely hard for him.

After months of tests and meetings with consultants it was decided Callum needed to undergo surgery to help his condition. He was booked in for open heart surgery on the 9th August at Bristol Children’s Hospital and the recovery process meant that he was unable to attend the game on Saturday with the Okehampton squad. 

The Matchday team organised a signed ball to take back to Callum and, on hearing of Callum’s disappointment of missing the game, Reece Cole kindly signed his Matchday shirt and handed it to Okehampton Manager Tim Stevens for Callum.

Confident enough to visit his friends yesterday evening, Callum was presented with the signed ball and signed shirt, both of which he was delighted to receive.

We wish Callum well in his recovery and hope to see him at St James Park in the near future.