RANGERS hero Michael Mols admits he realises now that he’s lucky to be alive after successfully undergoing an operation to get a ‘golf ball size’ tumour removed.
There was shock when the Dick Advocaat-era striker announced on social media that he was going under the knife.
Michael Mols shocked fans and well-wishers as he posted this post-op picture
Kenny Ramsay – The Sun GlasgowThe Dutch striker, who sustained a knee injury playing against Bayern, remains a popular figure at Ibrox[/caption]
The popular Dutchman then delighted his fans and followers by posting another video of himself working away on an exercise bike just three weeks later.
And now he has revealed that the first sign of the two-inch tumour behind his left eye was a minor fall which he initially blamed on an old football injury.
He’s said that he’s made it his mission in life to make the most of his second chance by making every day count.
Mols, who joined Gers in 1999 and spent five years at Ibrox, told the Daily Record: “I’m feeling great – so far, so good.
“The way I view it now, it’s like I’ve been given a second chance.
“My life before the operation was good.
“But after the surgery, I realised how serious things had gotten for my health.
“Now I’m just grateful and so happy that everything has gone so well.
“I’ve been lucky. I’ve read a lot about brain tumours and spoken to people since I had mine removed and I now realise this is a second chance.
“I now just want to enjoy life as much as possible – and I’m passing that message on to everyone I meet.
“Make sure you enjoy every moment because you never know when it will be your last.
“For me, that can even be just the simple things like having lunch with my wife, having coffee with my friends or watching Rangers at Ibrox.
These are the things I now look forward to every day. I don’t want to take them for granted ever again.”
Mols was relaxed about going in for what turned out to be an eight-hour operation in Amsterdam on October 4.
It was his wife Jane and son Nino who first urged him to go to the doctor when he lost his balance and fell at their Dutch home – a fall he blamed at first on his ongoing issues with his left knee.
Mols said: “I was relaxed when the doctors told me that I needed an operation.
“I was positive about the whole thing and ready to do it.
“In my eyes, it was all simple and easy. But it was only later I realised how lucky I was.
“In the weeks since the operation I’ve learned much more about the brain tumour and it’s only now I know what the outcomes could have been.
“I’ve spoken with another patient who went through the same thing and after his operation, it was difficult for him to even speak.
“Before it I was told that some people have trouble talking or find that their strength is reduced, maybe down to only 70 percent.
“I also saw on Instagram a video of a woman who could now hardly walk 18 steps after having her brain tumour removed.
“I just thought, ‘F**k sake, that could also have happened to me!’
“It started with a fall.
“It happened two or three times when I just fell over.
“I just thought it was normal. I thought it was to do with my left knee, which I had surgery on earlier this year.
“I’ve been recovering from that, working on it with the physio and I just thought that was why I’d fallen a few times.
“It’s the same knee I injured while I was at Rangers and I’ve had four operations on it down the years, so I just blamed it on that.
“But there were other things going on too. I’d be sitting with my family but I wouldn’t hear everything going on around me.
“My personality changed too. I was quieter, more zoned out – I wasn’t realising things around me.
“Everybody could see this change but I said, ‘No, I’m OK.’
“But my physio wanted me to see someone about the falls so I went to the doctor, who carried out some tests.
“He also tested my hearing because I thought I might need a hearing aid and they also tested my eyes.
“That’s when they saw something behind my left eye.
“But they didn’t tell me that until I was being driven home by my brother, when I got a call saying I had to turn around and go straight to hospital.
“I was rushed in for an MRI scan on my head and that’s when they found it, a tumour the size of a golf ball behind my eye.
“The doctors said I had to be operated on as soon as possible but in the end it took over a week and a half.”
The superfit star admits he couldn’t wait to get back in the gym to start working out again.
He said: “I was told I had to wait until November 16 before I could start working out again – but I was feeling a little bit cheeky and went a bit early!”
“I was watching my brother Robert in the gym one day and I thought, ‘I feel good, I feel like I can do something’, so I joined in.
“Afterwards my brother asked how I felt, did I have a headache or any dizziness? But there was nothing. I felt great, like I could do even more.
“But I do take this whole thing seriously and I waited until I got a phone call from the doc on November 16 before I resumed my normal workout routine.
“I’d passed all the tests the doc had set me and he was happy for me to get back in the gym, so I’m happy and relieved.”
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