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Swansea City youngster Jack Evans feared his career was over after being diagnosed with cancer last summer.

The Welshman's life was turned upside down when he received the shock diagnosis little more than 12 months ago.

When crippling stomach pains struck the now 21-year-old, football quickly became an afterthought.

Thankfully, Evans - currently away on international duty with Wales' Under-21s - is now in remission and is once again able to lace up his boots and take to the field.

But things could have been so different for the talented Swan.

"I was still playing at the time and I just had a bad stomach and told the staff that I'd been sick after the game," recalled the youngster.

"I went to hospital a week later, my parents were on holiday at the time so my dad had to come back, my mother couldn't get flights, but when they came back they told us all what it was.

"My stomach was swollen and I had quite a lot of pain in my stomach, it just wouldn't go away. Whenever I ate my stomach felt really bloated and I couldn't move.

"After a couple of weeks it just got worse and I started being sick all the time. They didn't really know what it was at the start and when they eventually knew, I was sent to Cardiff Met hospital, they were brilliant there.

"I just wanted to know what the treatment was and if I could get back playing.

"I had a week and a half in Morriston and then I went to Cardiff Met, I think I was there for the first two weeks to start the chemotherapy and the steroids. But everyone looked after me."

It was an understandably traumatic ordeal for one so young to process.

And such were the dark days, Evans admits he had moments where the possibility of playing the beautiful game couldn't have felt further away.

But family and friends - along with his boyhood club Swansea - rallied around the youngster and gave him the support he needed in his fight against the cruel disease.

When asked if he ever felt his football career was over, Evans responded: "Yes, at the start, because we didn't really know what it was.

"As weird as it sounds, for my career that was the best thing I could have hoped for (when finding out about treatment) because it was curable and there would be no lasting symptoms so with that happening, it was probably the best result for me, but for the first two weeks, when we didn't know what it'd be like that was the scariest part for me.

"I didn't really tell anyone for the first two or three weeks. Then I started telling my friends, and obviously my family already knew.

"Swansea is so small it's going to get out eventually, but I didn't want people all messaging me at the same time, but you've got to get on with things.

"My family and friends were amazing, and all of the hospital staff. The only thing on my mind was how I was going to get back fit and how long it would take and how long I could get back into training. That's what got me through it mainly.

"I have a good team around me and I knew as soon as I was healthy I'd get back with their help and the support of family and friends."

During Evans' cancer battle, Swansea's under-23s continued to show their support for the local lad, who joined the club at the age of eight.

With the Welshman sidelined during his recovery, kitman Shaun Baggridge would hang Evans' shirt in the dressing room ahead of every under-23s game.

It was one of many wonderful gestures by the club as Evans continued on his road to recovery.

"Shaun always put it (his shirt) up and had it in his van as well, he always sent me photos," recalled Evans.

"The club were brilliant with me. I can't thank them enough."

After an arduous battle, Evans was given a new contract by the Swans in February while the midfielder has gone on to work his way back to full fitness, although not entirely at Swansea's Fairwood base.

"Towards the end of the treatment things dragged because a couple of things happened and I had surgery, but as soon as that was done, I got back into walking and then jogging," he added.

"Then I did a little bit of gym work, movement stuff and then I went to Trinidad & Tobago for four weeks.

"I trained with their first team. Dennis Lawrence their manager was more than happy for me to be there, he was brilliant.

"I didn't know whether or not I'd get back fit last season. It was a relief having another year to get back fit so I didn't have to rush anything."

(Image: FAW)

And having overcome the greatest challenge of his life to date, Evans is now targeting a first-team role in SA1, as well as shining in the red of Wales, starting with the under-21 side's friendly double-header against Albania.

"Next season I'll hopefully have a lot more involvement," admitted Evans.

"That was the big thing about Trinidad. I got a lot more football and I was more prepared to come here (with Wales).

"There's always that pride playing for your country. Everyone wants to play for the first team, don't they? I've just got to keep working hard and see what happens."