ALTRINCHAM graduate Amaar Hussain is on the road to recovery after raising over £8,500 to pay for urgent knee surgery.
The teenage forward says he is “lost for words” by the response of a ‘Go-Fund-Me' page set up by the National League Robins to help raise the required amount for an operation to his ACL.
While the majority of senior players would be covered for injury expenses by the PFA, the 18-year-old did not have that insurance in place and was forced to fund the £8,450 operation out of his own pocket in order to essentially save his career.
The required amount was raised inside 48 hours and Hussain said: “I'm just very grateful for everyone who showed their support, I'm lost for words with it all,” Hussain told The NLP.
“I checked the page when I woke up and I couldn't believe we had hit it. There was an anonymous donation of £2,500 and we still don't know who that person is but I'm so thankful.
“It's crazy. We didn't know what to expect from the page really, so we've just been in disbelief.
“Another positive to come out of this is that a number of younger graduates that came up with me have started to switch on to insure they get that protection in place.”
Hussain suffered the injury while on a dual registration with Alsager Town when he felt a pain in his knee. The severity of the scan results was a surprise to him and his family.
“I was on an astro-turf pitch and I jerked my knee and got it stuck into the ground and went down,” he recalled. “I carried on and five minutes later the same thing happened, but the pain was a lot worse.
“It was the opposition physio who treated me, and it was regarded as an LCL (lateral collateral ligament) – which would've only been about four weeks out. But then when the scans came back it, it was an ACL injury which is a lot more serious.”
Amaar's father Waseem said: “Amaar is a gem of a kid. He's a model professional and no trouble at all. All of his coaches and academy coaches will all echo this, he's a dream kid and this is all he's ever wanted. To raise the money in 48 hours is just crazy.”
