AFTER a treble-winning season at Sheffield Steelers and selection for Great Britain’s Wheelchair Basketball squad for the upcoming World Championships, things were going well for Swindon’s Ben Fox.

The 22-year-old, from Westlea, enjoyed a sublime campaign with Sheffield in the top tier of wheelchair basketball in this country, winning the league and the play-off series as well as scooping the Euro League earlier this year.

With the World Championships in Hamburg taking place in August, Fox had been enjoying the best season of his career to date after being named in the 16-man squad for the tournament, just one cut away from the final team. 

However, he has had to put his career on hold for now, after learning he will have to undergo surgery to replace a heart valve, ruling him out of this summer’s championships and next season in its entirety.

“I’ve known for a while that I have a heart condition and that I was going to need surgery at some point in my life, around my mid-twenties,” said Fox.

“It’s come this year. Obviously I’m extremely gutted but life and health have to come before basketball, and it’s one of those situations.

“The cardiology team have been amazing and we have been working really hard this year to do tests which would allow me to play through the year.

“Unfortunately, the risk of something bad happening outweighs the benefits of me carrying on playing.

“It is hard to take, especially as you have eight months’ worth of training and hard work then, all of a sudden, in one meeting, its gone but it is for the best.

“I’m still young and I keep myself fit and healthy."

Fox became a full-time athlete at the start of the season when he moved to Sheffield, while he studied radio therapy and oncology.

After such a strong season with his club side, Fox says it’s a shame that his season has had to come to such an abrupt end.

The 22-year-old hasn’t got a date for the operation just yet, but says he will have to go under the knife before September.

“We had a really good year in Sheffield. We went unbeaten in the league, won the play-offs at the end of the season and topped it off by winning the EuroLeague Two as well,” he added.

“As a team, we set up to win everything we could and we were able to achieve that.

“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster to win my first league, play-offs and making it through to the last 16 of the GB Team.

“It’s been a really good season and it is just a shame it has had to end like this. It hasn’t ended on a bad note, it’s just ended on the wrong note.

“It’s going to a long summer for me. Getting back to playing in March would be the ideal situation for me.

“We have to take into account some hurdles. I’m not rushing but anything before March I’d be elated with.

“I’m always in talks with British Wheelchair Basketball.

“I can’t fault their support for me and they have put all of the right building blocks in place for a really smooth plan for post-surgery to get me fully fit.

“They have given me their full support and are going to keep in touch with me and everything, they have been amazing.

“It’s up in the air at the moment. It depends on whether I want to have the operation sooner or wait and go to Hamburg to watch the team play.

“I’ve also got a couple of holidays book, so I have to consider those. After the operation, I’m not going to be able to fly much but September is the latest.

“It’s just going to make me want to come back stronger and then I can concentrate on getting that place in Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.”