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When he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2015, James Gwatkin thought he would never pick up a rugby ball again.

Just 26 at the time and playing locally for Lambwath Lions, the condition was already having a massive effect on his relationship with the sport he loves, collapsing in a game in 2014 before briefly losing the use of his right hand not long after.

However, just five years on, James now stands on the verge of making his debut in international rugby league.

The former Winifred Holtby pupil grew up in Sutton Park, emigrated to Canada 18 months ago, the birth country of his father. Taking that Hull grit and determination across the pond with him, Gwatkin has now been included in the Canada Wolverines squad that will tour Serbia later this month.

Now 30 and based in Toronto, a city where rugby league is increasingly moving into the spotlight, James will make history by becoming the first person with MS to play international rugby league the men’s game.

“It’s going to be cracking,” he told Hull Live. “Even now just talking about it I can’t put it into words.

“As far as I’m aware I’ll be the first disabled person to play international rugby league.

“The Canadian coach lives in Toronto so the players that he sees the most are the Toronto-based players. We’re fortunate that way. I made the Ontario squad last year, we went down to Chicago and played a game. On the back of that we had chats about what I needed to work on.

“He was honest with me this year saying about how I’ve been out all year injured, he couldn’t justify putting me in the squad unless he was short. I understand the game a lot because of where I was brought up but that doesn’t walk you into the side.

“One of the players dropped out injured and I got the message saying if you can get the money together, you’re in.

It was because of this, rather than his condition, that James initially thought he would have to turn down the chance of a lifetime. Needing $2,500 (approximately £1,544) in order to book his seat on the plane to Belgrade, something he didn’t have.

As such, he speculatively decided to set up a GoFundMe page and within 48 hours the money was raised.

“I was getting donations from British Columbia, one guy from Calgary, one guy from South Carolina,” he said. “I don’t have a clue who these people are, but obviously they've been touched by the story.

“My brother re-posted it and he has a friend called Adrian King and Adrian is the chair of Disability Sports Humber and he went to the other trustees in that charity and they agreed to put in a grand. That was overwhelming.

“I put it on thinking I would have to turn the opportunity down. I genuinely thought I wouldn’t raise enough and I’d have to send the money back and thank them but not do it, so when Disability Sports Humber came along it was amazing.

“The money provides your flight, your accommodation, breakfast and some of your kit. It doesn’t cover everything you’ll need on the trip. Most things are covered but not everything so there will still be some costs. I needed $2,500 and I think I got $3,300 though so I should be sorted.”

As a result, James will take time off from his bar job in downtown Toronto in order to be part of the tour which lasts ten days and takes in two games against Serbia and one versus Bosnia.

It's a far cry from the months that followed his MS diagnosis when imagining playing sport again, let alone international sport, would have seemed impossible with the debilitating symptoms affecting both his physical and mental wellbeing.

However, added to some positive treatment, a meeting with Team GB athlete Kadeena Cox, changed his outlook.

“She’s a massive part of this actually,” he added. “She’s an MS athlete who won two gold medals in Rio, she was the reason I got off my backside and got fit again after I got diagnosed.

(Image: Getty)

“I got diagnosed in 2015 and I just didn’t do anything with myself for however long and I met Kadeena. She’d had a stroke and was diagnosed with MS at 23 I think. She had got herself back training and into university and she was saying she wanted to represent Team GB at the Paralympics in Rio.

“It was her that got me off my backside. I thought if she can do it I can. I think I ended up playing later that year. There was that dark time, where I thought I’ll never pick up a ball again.

“I thought I was about to lose my independence and I think a lot of it comes mentally, if you’re not going to push yourself through it. If you give up on your body, your body will give up on you and Kadeena was the one who stopped me giving up on my body and it worked.

“The drugs helped as well but the two go hand in hand. She was a massive part of that and she’s won gold medals now so I had to at least get back on a rugby pitch.”

And now James is hoping his story can act as inspiration for others struggling to cope with the disease on both sides of the Atlantic.

“That’s just as important for me as actually playing, to use the experience and story afterwards and be an inspiration for people,” he concluded.

“There’s the Disability Sports Humber and the St Michael’s Foundation in Toronto and I know I’m not a big name but if I can turn round to some man or women who has a diagnosis to convince them it’s not over, that’ll mean more to me in the aftermath than actually playing for Canada.

“That’s the point. If I can do something like this and use it to inspire other people, I don’t think I’ll ever be more fulfilled. That’s the plan, whether that’s in Toronto or Hull.”

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