Family of Berwick footballer Jack Forster provides an update on his recovery

Jack Forster was taken to hospital in Newcastle after the incident and in the days that followed, the community rallied round in support.

There have been hundreds of supportive messages, including from people in the Berwick area and beyond and from his former and current clubs, and more than £18,500 has now been donated to an online fundraiser backed by his family.

This week, the following statement has been issued by Jack’s family: “Many of you know that he was at the RVI receiving treatment in the ITU department for a brain and head injury.

“Since then, he’s been transferred to a rehabilitation centre where they are working with him on all different aspects of therapy.

“He’s re-learning most things, things we normally all take for granted. His speech is improving each day as he’s getting speech and language therapy and he’s now walking unaided, but still requires physiotherapy to build his strength back up.

“He still has a long road ahead to recovery but we’re heading in the right direction. Once Jack’s rehabilitation programme is complete, he will then be required to go back into the RVI to receive (hopefully) the final part of an on-going operation.

“Thank you again to everyone for your kind messages, prays and thoughts during all this – we can’t thank you all enough.”

People can still donate to the online fundraiser at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/nicole-ainslie