Sven-Göran Eriksson refuses to give up after shock cancer diagnosis

Watch Sven-Göran Eriksson refuses to give up after shock cancer diagnosis

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Sven-Göran Eriksson says he will not give up on life after recently receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis telling GMB: "I refuse to give up. I want to live every day."

The former England boss — who managed the national football team from 2001 until 2006 — shared last week that he has about a year left to live after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Speaking from his home in Sweden, he joined Susanna Reid and Ed Balls on Good Morning Britain to discuss his pancreatic cancer diagnosis and he shared his hopes to live the rest of his life as normally as possible.

What, how and why?

Eriksson vowed to keep on fighting for his life for the time he has left saying: "It came as a shock to me and my whole family. After a while you have to work with don't think about it 24 hours a day. Don’t sit at home and do nothing. Live life as normal as possible, as long as you can, that’s what I do. I refuse to give up. I want to live every day."

He further explained: "I can’t run a marathon. No, but I can go to the gym, I can do exercise as I always did. I can have people here, visitors. Everything normal more or less. I want to live normally. The aim of the rest of my life and wake up and feel ok. Most of morning I feel ok. It’s not good but it’s as good as it can be."

Remaining upbeat despite the situation, the Swedish coach said he has been going out with all of his friends and plans a trip to England to watch the football. He said: "I have a lot of friends in Sweden, they come to visit me, I go out and have a coffee with them, a lunch with them. I’m travelling. I hope to come to England, maybe to see England and Brazil in March. I refuse to sit down and cry."

Looking to the future, Eriksson did say he won't make any big journeys now and that he had been very lucky to travel over the years. He said: "When you are in the situation as I am, I'm not going to do major journeys because I’ve seen a lot and in many many nice places. My big aim is to wake up in the morning and feel well. I am very happy every day I can do that. I will do some travelling."

What else happened on Good Morning Britain?

Elsewhere in the interview, Eriksson revealed his cancer diagnosis came as a shock to him and his family. The former football manager shared they only found out because he had a fall which was caused by four small strokes. He told the presenters: "I’m ok considering the situations. Yeah I was at home everything normal, no pain, nothing."

He explained how he found out saying: "I fell down. I fainted. They took me to hospital, they did a lot of examinations, they said I had four small strokes, it came out that i had cancer in the pancreas. We can’t operate it but we can try run it slower than it usually does." Eriksson also said he had no regrets in life.

Read more

• Sven-Göran Eriksson: Former England manager 'told he was dying from cancer after suffering strokes' (Evening Standard, 3-min read)

• What did Sven-Goran Eriksson do after managing England?