'I went away for the match and came home months later with a new baby'

A CRAMLINGTON man was in the stands at Wembley watching Newcastle United break their trophy duck when his “knees started to feel weird”.

- SAM VOLPE

Mark Todd with wife Kate and baby Emmett on Halloween as he recovers

In fact, Mark Todd, 43, was in the early stages of a stroke.

At home on Tyneside, his wife Kate, 38, was five months pregnant. By the time Mark would come home, he'd have a baby son and a new house - and it would be months later.

At the match on March 16 this year, Mark can remember hearing Dan Burn score. But by that point, he knew something was wrong.

He said: "I must be the only man who went away for the match and came home months later with a new baby and a new house! I was at the match and my knees started to feel weird.

"The man next to me went to get the medics. I heard Dan Burn score the first goal as I was having a seizure.

"I kept thinking 'oh God, my unborn son is going to grow up without his dad'. The next thing I knew I was surrounded by doctors."

He was taken to Charing Cross Hospital during the game - and had been diagnosed before the match even finished. In the North East, wife Kate, her sister and ex-brother-in-law jumped in a car and rushed to London.

Mark would spend 12 nights in Charing Cross Hospital, while Kate stayed in a nearby Airbnb.