- Mowbray had 15cm of his bowel removed as he underwent surgery for cancer
- He is now back in football but has opened up on his struggles of last 18 months
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West Brom manager Tony Mowbray has revealed his children thought he was going to die when he was battling bowel cancer.
Mowbray suddenly stepped down as manager of Birmingham in February last year after undergoing surgery. He had 15cm of his bowel removed during his treatment.
He took a temporary leave of absence after eight games in charge, before officially resigning from the role in May.
The 61-year-old, who has managed a host of English clubs, is now on the road to recovery following surgery and has opened up publicly about his struggles of the last 18 months.
His focus, he revealed, was on making sure his family were dealing with the situation well, going as far as showing his wife how to use their banking app.
But it was also about his children, who, Mowbray has revealed in an interview with The Times, feared the worst.
Tony Mowbray has revealed his children were scared he ‘wasn’t going to live’ during his battle with bowel cancer
Mowbray underwent a tough 18 months and had 15cm of his bowel removed during surgery
The West Brom boss was focused on making sure his family – including wife Amber (pictured) – ‘were OK’
‘I had the conversation with my family and you could see they were frightened,’ he said. ‘Was I frightened? My only thoughts were for my family, my three children and my wife and making sure they were OK.
‘I had to put everything in order and I tried to. My wife saw our banking app for the first time in her life. It’s little things like that. She understood. This was serious stuff. I felt she needed to know where we had our money, whether it was ISAs or pensions and what was in the bank.’
Speaking on his diagnosis, which came after he collapsed when trying to answer the door, he added: ‘My wife put me in the car and drove me back to hospital and they wanted to know why I was collapsing and in the condition I was,’ he says. ‘They rehydrated me and put me on a drip overnight.
‘I remember sitting there in bed and my kids’ eyes were watering up. They were scared I wasn’t going to live. How old were they? They were 15, 17 and 19. I could see the fear in their eyes.’
Mowbray is now regularly in the gym, building his strength back up. He has put back on two-and-a-half stone after losing nearly double that during his treatment.
West Brom are seventh in the Championship table with seven games left of their season as they target a return to the Premier League under Mowbray.
