Jordan White: New Motherwell FC signing couldn't walk for weeks due to life threatening blood infection

Six foot four striker White (28), who has signed a two-year deal with the Steelmen after leaving Inverness Caley, spent around four weeks in a Chester hospital in summer 2016 having just signed for Wrexham.

“This problem knocked me for six,” White told the Times and Speaker.

“When it first happened it was mental.

“We were playing Nottingham Forest in pre-season in a closed door game.

“Everything was fine, I drove back that night and I just remember thinking that my groin was a bit tight so I would jump in the bath.

“I was a wee bit stiff but I thought you always get aches, pains and stiffness in pre-season.

“So I went to bed that night and I just remember waking up during the night, trying to turn over and literally I couldn’t move.

“So I started to panic a wee bit, wondering what the hell was going on.

“Alana (his now wife) had to get up and she literally had to grab my legs and swing them about.

“I couldn’t walk. My body wasn’t letting me put one foot in front of the other, it was the most bizarre thing ever.”

An understandably terrified White was admitted to hospital that night and initially just given painkillers as medics wrongly thought he simply had a muscle injury.

“I was trying to tell them that was wrong because if it was a muscle injury I’d be able to walk,” White added.

“But I was kind of palmed off a bit.

“So I then went back to my flat and couldn’t climb up the stairs myself. It was a nightmare.

“I was just literally sitting in my bed and I think my mum and dad (Liz and Billy) came down because obviously they were worried.

“Come that Friday I realised I would be unable to go to training.

“But obviously I had just signed there so I wanted someone from Wrexham to come out and see me because I didn’t want them to think I was at it.

“I literally couldn’t move but the guys at Wrexham asked me if there was any way I could come in.

“Alana and I managed to drive into training and I told them I couldn’t move. So I went up to hospital again and they took X-rays on me.

“They couldn’t find anything in the X-rays so I was sent home again.

“I was just lying on the couch so Alana phoned the hospital and I went in again.”

A blood infection – similar to sepsis – was subsequently diagnosed and White’s blood count was discovered to be really low.

He said: “It got progressively worse and there was poison in my groin area which went to my hip and paralysed me.

“Eventually they had to operate on me to drain any poison out.

“I was bedbound for a while and had to learn how to walk again. You don’t realise how quickly you forget how to do things like that.

“The experience wasn’t great. I was exhausted by it if anything.

“It wasn’t nice for me but it was probably worse for Alana.

“She had just moved down to Chester with me and she didn’t have anybody down there. We were both down there ourselves.

“Obviously our parents came down at a point but it was really difficult for us both.

“I have never had an injury in my career, touch wood, but that was obviously a setback for me.

“If I’m being honest with myself I probably came back too soon (White finally made his Wrexham debut on November 29, 2016).

“I was at a new club so I was desperate to make an impact, desperate to play.

“But for about two or three months when I came back, my groin was still sore.

“It was a lot weaker so I had to strengthen it up more than I probably did before I came back.

“But once I got going I started playing really well and that’s when I was gaining my confidence back.”

Prior to joining Wrexham, Bellshill-born White had starred for Dunfermline, Clyde (loan), Dumbarton (loan), Drogheda United, Clyde, Falkirk, Stirling Albion and Livingston.

After leaving Wrexham in 2017 he had a season at fellow National League side Barrow before joining Inverness in the Scottish Championship.

His career record reads as 117 goals from 395 appearances.

White’s two-year contract with Motherwell officially started on June 11 and he is especially excited about playing Celtic and Rangers in the Scottish Premiership and in a Europa League qualifier on Thursday, August 27.

He said: “I think playing against the Old Firm you don’t have as much pressure on your back so sometimes you actually have a wee bit more confidence against them.

“Although they are harder games you feel it is a free hit.

“We are more than capable of matching these teams.”