Bristol City defender Brooke Aspin has revealed she’s been treated for sepsis and a bone infection having spent three weeks in hospital at the end of the summer, preventing her from starting the 2022/23 season with the Robins.
City confirmed on September 6 that the England Under-17 captain had been admitted to hospital with an undisclosed infection, and in an Instagram post on Friday, the teenager opened up on the health problems she’s been battling. Sepsis is a life-threatening illness that occurs when the body reacts to an infection and damages tissue.
Aspin, a product of the Robins academy, was one of City’s key players last season, making 26 appearances as they finished third in the Championship and had been linked with a summer move to the WSL with five top-flight clubs reportedly chasing her signature.
“Thought it was time to let you guys know why I haven’t been playing the game I love recently,” Aspin wrote on Instagram. “On August the 22nd I went into hospital with this horrible pain in my groin. Long story cut very short, after many MRI scans, blood tests and X-rays, I found out I had some sort of sepsis, an infection of the bone and pretty much everything else you can imagine.
“I was finally discharged on September the 13th meaning I spent three weeks and one day in the hospital. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t hard because, yeah, it was probably one of the hardest things I’ve been through, however now being home I finally feel I am one step closer.
“I’m slowly taking it step by step to get back to where I was. It’s going to be a long road ahead but I’ve got the best people around me and I’m so ready to get back being the player I was.”
Bristol City Women sit top of the Championship after the opening four games of the season having won and drawn three. They also won their first group game of the League Cup, beating Crystal Palace 4-0 at the High Performance Centre.
