A dad whose son was born with a serious heart problem spoke of how his son's condition left him feeling "broken" at times.
John Bradley's son, Freddie, was only six-weeks-old when he underwent surgery to save his life.
John, who is the match commentator on LFC TV, spoke of his and his wife's Stacey's anguish which began just after Freddie was born.
John, whose family lives in Flintshire, told the Liverpool Echo: "When my little lad was born, they didn't know what was wrong with him.
"For the first five or six weeks he was treated for a number of potential different conditions but he wasn't putting weight on and was gradually losing weight.
"He was getting more and more poorly. Eventually, they managed to identify that he had a problem with his heart and we were sent up to Alder Hey."
Baby Freddie was born missing the wall that separates one of the chambers of his heart.
John said: "Basically he was drowning in his own blood - it was going into his lungs and he was really in a serious condition."
At just six weeks old, Freddie underwent an operation to place a band on his pulmonary artery which would hopefully help him gain the strength he would need for further operations down the line.
John said: "They managed to get him through the first few months and since then the work they've done has just been amazing.
"The genius of his surgeons there who have operated on him. You're operating on something that's the size of strawberry - going inside that, just amazing."
In the years since he was born, Freddie has undergone two further major surgeries. The last one was in June when he had a major operation to fit a metal clamp in his heart.
Speaking about the strain he and his wife have experienced since Freddie's diagnosis, John said: "I think you fear the worst. You're put in to the position that no one ever wants to be in and I don't think any parent expects to be in.
"When you're not in control of the situation and you're handing your child over for a life saving operation.
"Whilst you know you're handing them over to the very best there's still that fear, because you know and they explain to you that there's a chance that they're not going to come through this."
"In the darkest of nights you do sit there at home and think how am I going to get through this? It's very mentally testing.
"There were times that you wondered how you could keep living day-to-day with what's going on.
"But when your child wakes up after the operation and looks at you, it's like the world starts again on the first day. We've been through that a couple of times now."
John posting on Twitter last thanked Alder Hey for their treatment of Freddie, and said that the journey had left him feeling "broken mentally" at times.
He said Freddie, who has not long celebrated his third birthday, is now "thriving" and "causing havoc" thanks to the expertise of the surgeons at the staff Alder Hey Children's Hospital's "incredible level of care".
He said: "It's a world recognised facility and it's only when you need it you realise why."
Adding: "The amazing thing is because of my job and what I do I've had a certain level of profile down the years and when I'm in Ronald McDonald House and I have people I've never met before offering to come and do things and asking do we need shopping or a home cooked meal. It helped massively to have that level of support that I know me and my wife really appreciated."
John said the next thing he's looking forward to is taking Freddie to watch his first Liverpool FC game at Anfield, adding: "To go to the match with your little lad is something I think every father dreams of."
