A father saved his son’s fledging football profession by giving him a tendon from his personal hamstring in a groundbreaking surgical procedure.

Andy Milbank didn’t hesitate to make the donation for teenager Matthew, regardless of the operation leaving him on crutches.

The younger footballer was high objective scorer for Gillingham’s under-14s earlier than a torn knee ligament put him out of play final yr.

He wanted the identical operation as Paul Gascoigne, who famously tore his within the 1991 FA Cup Final whereas at Spurs.

But Matthew’s sporting future was extra in danger as a result of as much as 30 % of ACL – anterior cruciate ligament – repairs fail within the under-20s.

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The striker, now 15, was provided a lifeline – pioneering surgical procedure utilizing a a lot stronger tendon from a dad or mum to create a graft as a substitute of one in all his personal.

The success of the brand new process may benefit hundreds of kids who would in any other case want repeat operations.

When docs operating the primary UK trial proposed the thought of harvesting a tendon to restore Matthew’s knee, Andy, 55, whose personal father was a semi-professional participant, instantly stepped ahead.

“Anything to help my son be able to play again,” mentioned the airport employee from Dartford, Kent.

“If there was anything I could do, I wanted to do it; my own footballing days are well and truly behind me. Matthew was playing the best football of his career when he got injured.”

Matthew, whose two-year contract was renewed by Gillingham, mentioned: “Both my mum and dad volunteered to donate when we were offered the opportunity to take part in the trial.

“The surgeon told us my dad’s hamstring would give me the best chance because he was taller and stronger – so in August the two of us were side by side in operating theatres at Tunbridge Wells Hospital, where the surgery was carried out.”

Knee surgeon Nick Bowman carried out Matthew’s ligament restore after finishing up related surgical procedure whereas on fellowship in Australia.

He mentioned: “Children’s tendons are so weak and skinny, their ligament repairs often re-rupture.

“When I interviewed with Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust on my return, I told them I was determined we should be the first in the UK to offer paediatric ACL repairs using transplanted adult tendons.

“A trial was mounted and Matthew was one of the first of 16 children to get a repair with a graft fashioned from the hamstring of one of their parents.”

The trial will proceed till September subsequent yr and Mr Bowman mentioned: “Although it is early days, we have had no failures.”