David Brooks: Wales midfielder cherishes ‘special’ return after cancer recovery

David Brooks had not long got into his room at the Vale Resort, Wales’ training base on the outskirts of Cardiff, when he heard a knock on the door.

It was October 2021 and Brooks had reported for training with his Wales team-mates for that month’s World Cup qualifiers.

As usual, the players had their medical tests at the start of the week. Having told team doctor Jonathan Houghton that he was struggling to sleep, Brooks asked for some paracetamol and went back to his room, thinking little of his request.

But the Bournemouth midfielder, then 24, had also mentioned he had recently been kept awake by night sweats and had lost a considerable amount of weight.

Twenty minutes after Brooks’ request for paracetamol, it was Dr Houghton who was knocking on his door. He told Brooks that his symptoms suggested he might have cancer.

“Any young person, when you hear the word cancer you don’t really believe or understand what it actually means,” says Brooks.

“When I heard it, I was no different, you think the worst until the specialists tell you otherwise.

“The moment I found out was incredibly tough but the prognosis was a positive one and, when I found that out, there was always an upside to look at and aim for.

“There were dark times but I had people around me to help me through that and come out on the other side.”

Brooks is now on that other side, though it has been an arduous journey there.

Within hours of his encounter with Dr Houghton, Brooks was diagnosed with Stage Two Hodgkin lymphoma.

He then endured months of chemotherapy, lost more than a stone in weight and found himself so weakened by the treatment that he struggled to get out of bed.

“I remember I went for a walk on the beach and I got literally 100 yards and had to sit down,” Brooks recalls.

“My missus walked off with the dog and picked me up on the way back. I couldn’t really go out and do anything because I was out of breath or feeling too sickly.”

The treatment was draining but it worked. By May 2022, Brooks declared himself cancer-free and then, in March this year, he made his long-awaited return to action.

His second-half substitute appearance in Bournemouth’s Premier League match at Aston Villa was his first for 536 days, greeted with a standing ovation from both sets of fans.

Brooks was then recalled to Wales’ squad for their Euro 2024 qualifiers, at home to Armenia on Friday and away to Turkey the following Monday.

Having last played for Wales in June 2021, winning his 21st cap, Brooks returned to the Vale this week as a fully-fledged international player for the first time since receiving his cancer diagnosis there.

“It’s a very nice feeling, my first camp in two years, so it will be a very special moment putting the Welsh shirt on again,” he says.

“I’d been a few times to see the lads and the coaching staff when I was ill. It didn’t have the same feeling about it. Football aside, it was just nice to get back with the lads and feel part of it.

“That was the first step after the treatment, to get back into the Bournemouth dressing room and be part of that. As soon as that was completed, to get back in the Wales set-up as well was the aim.

“There was plenty to catch up on after two years apart but they’ve welcomed me with open arms.”

There was also a reunion with the Wales medical staff.

“Yes, with Jon the doc,” Brooks adds. “I do owe him a lot, he’s obviously done a lot for us. It’s always nice to see him.

“Whenever my mum and dad see him they burst out crying and give him a big hug. There’s a lot of respect there and I can’t thank him enough.”

Brooks will be forever grateful to those who helped save his life and set him on the path to return to Premier League and international football.

What he does not want, however, is sympathy. Wales’ 2019 player of the year wants to earn his place back in the team.

“I was out of contract [with Bournemouth] this year before I signed my new one. Even before talks had kicked in I wanted to make it clear I wasn’t there for sympathy,” Brooks says.

“I don’t want to be there if I’m not going to play or wasn’t in the plans. Once they saw me training and how I was determined to get back to, I did earn what I was given.

“It’s the same with Wales. I don’t just want to be called up to be a spare part.

“I’m working hard to get back in the Bournemouth XI and to be starting for Wales as well.”

During his time away from the game, Brooks missed playing in Bournemouth’s promotion to the Premier League and Wales’ first World Cup for 64 years.

The 25-year-old’s most recent appearance for Wales came in their second-round defeat by Denmark at the coronavirus-postponed Euro 2020 two years ago.

When Armenia visit the Cardiff City Stadium for their Euro 2024 qualifier on Friday, Brooks will be part of a Welsh effort to qualify for a fourth major tournament out of five.

He still has the same hopes and dreams that he had the last time Wales played at a European Championship – but now he carries them with a different appreciation of life and football.

“I would say the ambitions haven’t changed but, without sounding cheesy, when you have gone through a scare like that, it puts it into perspective that my life had been football for 23 years and I didn’t have a single care about it,” Brooks says.

“As soon as I had the diagnosis, I wanted to just still be on earth.

“It puts into perspective how important football is, I think. It does mean a lot to me and my ambitions haven’t changed. I still want to try and get to the very top.

“But it has put things into perspective that football is not live or die. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t end up playing football. The main thing is being happy and healthy.”