'I was in the gym in the morning and had brain surgery in the afternoon'

Former Leeds United captain Dominic Matteo said he was working out in the gym just hours before he underwent emergency surgery on a brain tumour.

Speaking on World Cancer Day, Matteo, 51, paid tribute to the "lifesaving" medical team who treated him at Leeds General Infirmary in November 2019.

The Scotland international believes he played his entire football career with the tumour "lying dormant" before he was diagnosed with anaplastic ependymoma and needed critical surgery and radiotherapy.

He said: "I was in shock. I train most days, do a little bit of gym work to tick over. I felt great. I had trained that morning before I went to hospital."

Matteo, who lives near Halifax, said: "My doctors think I lived my whole life and played through my football career with a tumour lying dormant in my head."

He said there were warning signs, including changes to his eyesight, but he didn't think he was as unwell as he actually was.

"I was working for Sky Sports, a job I loved. I was driving to Hull to do Soccer Saturday, and I bumped the car, which was really unusual for me.

"I thought nothing of it. But when a goal went in, I had to ask the cameraman who scored, and that was really strange because I always knew all the players' names."

He went for a health check and collapsed during his MRI scan.

Paying tribute to his surgeon, Ryan Mathew, he said: "Ryan saved my life. He was very proud of my scar - and I am too."

He said Mathew, the honorary consultant neurosurgeon at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, removed his tumour before he had radiotherapy to get rid of any remaining cancer cells.

Mathew said: "Dominic came in pretty unwell. We took him to theatre as an emergency, opened up the skull and removed all of the tumour that we could see, both to the naked eye and what we could see on the MRI scan and thankfully he had a very good outcome."

Matteo is married to Jessica and has three children - daughters Luisa, 20 and Elin, 16, and son Luca, 12.

During his recovery, he had to relearn key skills such as how to read and write.

"I was in hospital four to five weeks. I lost sight in my right eye, and I lost all my cognitive skills - I didn't even know how to brush my teeth," he said.

"I tried to relearn to read and write. A teacher who was a Leeds fan wanted to help me. We tried for a year, but I couldn't get it. It was stressing me out, and I try to get rid of stress - it's a killer.

"I think the reading has gone now and that means I can't script anything. When you have scripts on TV it's easier, but I think I'm more authentic.

"And if I make a mistake, it's fine - I own it. Everyone makes mistakes."

Matteo said it means a lot to him to be able to talk about his cancer and what he went through. He said: "I want to share my story - if it helps one person then it's worth it."

He was also treated by Prof Susan Short, a clinical oncologist and adult brain tumour researcher.

Both Matteo and Short conduct research on brain tumours at the University of Leeds.

She said: "Dominic's experience highlights the importance of research into rare brain tumours.

"Without the understanding of how these tumours develop and respond to treatment, we would not be able to achieve the outcomes that patients such as Dominic see today.

"Rare cancers are a key area of focus for Leeds Cancer Research Centre, and we hope that our work will help many more people like Dominic live long, happy and fulfilling lives too."

Matteo added he had had a lot of support from the football community.

He said: "I got a lot of messages from fans who didn't like me - Man United fans! But they still messaged me to wish me well and that meant a lot.

"David O'Leary [former Leeds manager] and Steve McManaman [who he played with at Liverpool] came to see me in hospital - the nurses were all excited to see Steve!

"Eddie Gray [Leeds United legend] even got the bus up to the hospital to visit me.

"And now, when I'm at Elland Road, there's a lot of people in similar positions. I feel privileged I can speak to them. We have a different respect because of what we're going through."

He added: "My last scan was stable, which is all I can ask for. Every time they are stable, I go and celebrate.

"I stay positive and keep myself fit – that's really important.

He added: "What they do, I call them superheroes, I really mean that because they are just absolute legends.

"I mean that word in football - legends - is bandied about all the time, but they're the real heroes, the doctors and nurses and the surgeons.

"They're the ones that need all the credit."

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.