ELLA TOONE has opened up on her grief following the death of her father Nick who passed away in September last year.
The Manchester United midfielder, 25, paid an emotional tribute to her dad in a candid piece written for the Players Tribune.
Nick Toone had been a huge influence on the Women’s Super League ace on and off the pitch.
He was diagnosed with prostate cancer the day after watching the Lioness star score in the 2022 Euros final with England defeating Germany 2-1 at Wembley
And Toone wrote of her Dad informing her in May last year that the cancer had returned.
This was soon after the midfielder helped Man United make history scoring her team’s 4-0 triumph over Tottenham in their first Women’s FA Cup final appearance.
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Last September her father passed away three days before his 60th birthday.
Toone wrote: “We win the FA Cup, last May. Dad texted after the game.
“When I went to the house, everyone sat down in the living room, and Dad said, ‘I’m doing some tests. And I’m not well.’
“I just remember thinking: ‘Tests? What tests? What?
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“It’s come back. I’ve got cancer.”
“I said, ‘What do you mean it’s come back?’
“And he said the day after we won the Euros, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“He’d fought it for a whole year without telling us, and it had gone. And then it came back.
“But he didn’t let on how bad it was. I tried to ask questions, but he’d just palm it off.
“In a way, I totally get it because I’m exactly like that.
“I’ll sit in a room, and someone will be talking to me, and I’ll just shut down.
“And when it came to talking about the diagnosis, that was Dad.
“He didn’t want anything to be different. He didn’t want people to mither about him, none of that.
“So he went about it the way he wanted, and that was that.
“I feel like he kissed me and hugged me more. He became a bit softer, which was sweet.
“But other than that, he was just the same really.”
Toone, who like her father, is a lifelong Man United started her football journey at Astley and Tyldesley Girls’ team at age five.
Two years later she joined Manchester United’s Centre of Excellence at seven.
Following senior club career stints at Blackburn Rovers and Man City from 2015 to 2018, the midfielder returned to the Red Devils.
On the international stage Toone helped England win the Euros for the first time in 2022 and started for the Lionesses in the 2023 World Cup final which they narrowly lost 1-0 to Spain.
The midfielder, who hopes to help England retain their Euros crown this summer, has fond memories of her father taking her to watch their local team Hindsford FC during her childhood.
In July 2022, Toone told England.com: “I just used to play all day with the lads.
“I have loads of cousins and me and my brother would play with them all day on the sidelines while the club were playing.
“Those were my first footballing memories when I was really young.”
Toone, who has been in fine form for second–placed Man United this month, described her father as the person who always kept her “grounded”.
She admits writing about the feelings that followed his passing was also about helping “anyone grieving and feeling alone”.
The 53-capped England midfielder wrote: “When he passed, it was a big shock, even to some of the people closest to him, because no one hardly knew he was ill.
“I’m still processing. This is my first try at really talking about it. Like Dad said, The Toones are not great at feelings.
“But I wanted to write this, for anyone grieving and feeling alone.
“Friends who also have experienced the uniquely awful feeling of losing a parent have helped me massively in the worst part of my life.
“Now, when people ask, “Who do you look up to?” I say it’s people like Beth Mead and Rach Daly, who’ve continued to play football and be an inspiration after losing someone they love.
“They’ve helped me, massively. I hope that in the future I can do the same for people in my life who might be going through the same thing.
“Grief takes a different shape for everyone.
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“But maybe if someone sees me sharing a small piece of my own grief, it might make it a tiny bit easier for them to know that I know what they’re going through is brutal.
“It’s messy. And that’s alright. Trust me, it’s alright.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
