"There's no drug that makes you feel like football'

Thinking about seeing his beloved Forest again gave comedian Matt Forde hope after life-changing surgery

- Dominic Booth

The pain came quickly, like a shot to the top of the leg. Matt Forde was only mildly concerned as he was performing at the Edinburgh festival, but sought a swift trip to the doctor anyway. It was probably a slipped disc pressing on a nerve, they said.

But it was not long before his world was turned into tumult.

A cancerous tumour called a chordoma was discovered at the bottom of his back after an MRI scan. "You're not sure how your life is going to turn out at that point," says Forde, who was told the base of his spine would have to be removed in life-changing surgery. It was his only option if he wanted to survive.

Waiting for the operation "was like knowing I was going to be in a car crash. It was going to be traumatic and painful and take a long time to recover from, but it was for my own good." A year later, Forde is in better health and good spirits. He has a stoma and a colostomy bag for life and, temporarily, needs walking sticks, but is virtually back up and running. He credits his wife and the brilliant staff at the Royal National Orthopaedic hospital in Stanmore, north-west London for helping him through. His other main coping mechanism? Football.

"When I was in a lot of pain, nothing took me out of it better.

I had to stop watching Married at First Sight because the arguments on that show made the pain worse.