It was not until the subject of summer holidays came up that the severity of his condition really hit home.
‘The surgeon said, “No flights”, so I joked with my wife Debs, “It’ll have to be Scarborough for me and you this year then”,’ recalls Marco Gabbiadini.
‘But the surgeon then asked, “Is there a major hospital there?”. I said, “I don’t think so”, and he replied, “Well, I wouldn’t bother then if I was you”. When he said that, it was quite an eye opener.’
That conversation was back in May, a week after a stunned Gabbiadini was told his coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart, had an 80 per cent blockage and that he urgently needed triple bypass surgery.