Daley Cross, manager of the England team, said of Lucy’s role: “She was just trying to do her best for him and trying to find a way to motivate him.
“His wife did drop in the conversation that he used to play at Manchester United as a schoolboy. So that got our ears twitched instantly.
“You could tell from him being on the pitch, even though he was so fresh into his journey, that he knew the football game and he would be such an incredible asset to us.
“You can be in a dark place, at the time of diagnosis, through your treatment or even post-transplant. So to have us exist to help and inspire people means that we are getting some incredible footballers.
“And that really is the power of it: to that transplant community or to the world, showing people that when you’ve had organ failure, your life isn’t over. There is a chance for you, and you can go and resume and live your life.”
As the recipient of a donor heart, Jackson has to manage his exercise workload more carefully than his team-mates, many of whom have had kidney transplants, the most common transplant in the UK.
His role in the side tends to involve 10-minute bursts, rather than playing for the duration of matches.
