England women's football team captain Steph Houghton is ready to sacrifice playing at the World Cup to care for her husband Stephen Darby.
Darby, a former Liverpool and Bolton defender, announced his retirement in September after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
The couple married in June last year and although Houghton insists her husband is "as good as ever" she insists he will always come first.
And the Lionesses' captain admits she would be ready to walk away from playing in the World Cup this summer to care for her husband.
"It would all depend on how Stephen is. He's my priority If anything were to change in the near future, my job is to be the best wife that I can be and to look after him. But at the moment, everything is great," she told the Mail.
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"He's been an unbelievable person in the way he has dealt with it. He has been everything I knew he would be.
"He really motivates me to be the best person I can be and the ultimate thing for me is to make him proud.
"He's the ultimate inspiration for me and my family and he's been so strong.
"My focus is the World Cup now and fingers crossed it never, ever gets to the moment where I have to step away. If I'm selected, he'll come to the tournament."
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Manchester City defender Houghton had been called up to the England squad by Phil Neville for their double-header.
The 30-year-old was involved in the defeat to Canada but suffered a groin problem and has been forced to pull out of the clash with Spain on Tuesday.
An FA statement read: "The decision has been made to rest her in order to manage her load ahead of the FIFA Women’s World Cup this summer."
England face Scotland, Argentina and Japan in Group D at this summer's tournament in France.
The Lionesses reached the semi-finals in 2015 and are among the favourites to reach the latter stages again.
