Jonas Gutierrez fought an incredible against-the-odds battle to become a professional footballer.
Report in the Sunday Sun: For he was barely beyond a toddler when his mother, Monica, noticed something different — and worrying — about him.
"When I was a very small boy, I developed a paralysis down the left side of my body," Gutierrez, now 25, reveals.
Ominously, what doctors in Buenos Aires hoped would be a temporary condition persisted, leaving Monica Gutierrez seeking advice on how to help her son.
"After a while, the doctors advised her that I should try to practice some sport or sport as therapy," Gutierrez adds. "So I began to play football."
That beginning was as a five-year-old with the junior "babies" section of local club Estudiantes.
Devoting practically every waking hour to the game, Gutierrez gradually overcame his condition and made a name for himself at junior level.
After Estudiantes, the youngster played in the junior ranks of six other clubs — including Argentinos Juniors and River Plate — before signing for Velez Sarsfield as a teenager.
"It's all down to my mother." He said.
Pass me that hanky, will yer?