A disabled Celtic fan who took up basketball and travelled the world watching his beloved team has died at the age of 46.
Davie Gilmour was described by his wife Laura, 38, as the “most able-bodied disabled person” she’d ever met.
He died after suffering a bone infection, which led to sepsis.
His loved ones now want his legacy of living life to the full to inspire others, with or without a disability.
Laura, a delivery driver from Drumchapel, Glasgow, said: “Davie was the most amazing man any of us had ever met.
“He was in a wheelchair most of his life but that didn’t stop him. He’ll always be an inspiration.” Davie battled neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nerve tissue, as a child, before surgery to remove a tumour in his spine at 13 went wrong.
He was left paralysed from the chest down.
But that didn’t stop the die-hard Celtic fan.
Laura added: “Before I got together with Davie, he’d already achieved so much. He travelled all over to watch Celtic.
“He was one of the first people to have a disabled season ticket for Parkhead.
“Davie started playing wheelchair basketball professionally and then helped set up the Phoenix team. They competed all over the world.
“He enjoyed spending time with friends and had his own flat by the time he was 20. Nothing was going to get in his way.”
Laura and Davie’s romance began at the shops in 2012.
Laura said: “We bumped into one another in Poundland and, as we knew of one another, we got chatting.
“We got engaged in February 2013 before tying the knot in November that year – we didn’t hang about.”
Davie also took on the role of dad to Laura’s three children – Arianna, 16, Lochlann, 12 and Shayla, 11. The family adapted their flat to suit his needs and Laura said being “dad” came naturally to Davie.
“All Davie ever wanted was to have a wife and children,” Laura said.
“We were like the missing piece. He was the best father figure to my children, who looked up to him so much.”
Davie’s health deteriorated on December 3 last year when he found a cut near his hip. It turned into a painful pressure sore that opened up to his hip bone.
Davie contracted osteomyelitis, an infection of the bones, which spread to his pelvis and chest.
By June this year, sepsis had ravaged his body.
Laura said: “The last few weeks were hard. He was more or less bed-bound.
“I had to wash and dress him and his bedroom had to be like sterile hospital room. But Davie fought til the very end. I want people to know Davie’s story and to know that you can still enjoy life with a disability.”
